Naruto: A Zoid's Tale
by AvatarofDeath13
Summary: In a world of ninja and Zoids, a boy named Naruto will lead a revolution against the world, but not without his Rinnegan, Organoid fox, unique Genosaurer, and fellow Jinchuuriki. Fear us, for we are: Eisen Dragoon! Naruto x Yugito pairing. No yaoi!
1. Genosaurer! My name is Naruto!

_**Basic Text-Style Explanation**_

~Normal Text~

The black, demonic Berserk Fuhrer sniffed the lovely, gentle flowers.

MARKER= Regular Text

~Thoughts~

'_I hate you, AvaDe, you bat-shit loco, manipulative son of a bitch!'_

MARKER= _Italics_

~Dialogue~

"All your base are belong to us!"

MARKER= "Double-Quotation Marks"

As well as...

_**Special Text-Style Explanation**_

~Zoid-Speech~

"**You're avenger status is pissing me off, Uchiha Sasuke!**

MARKER= Underline and **Bold**

~Organoid-Speech~

"_I'll drown myself in sulfuric acid before I Gattai with a Molga!"_

MARKER= _Italics_ and Underline

~Demonic/Enhanced Speech~

"**I ****hate**** Molgas!"**

MARKER= "Double-Quotation Marks" & **Bold**

XOXOXOXOXOHOXOXOXOXOX

Hello my fellow worshipper's of the ambrosia that we know as fanfiction, but before anything else, please allow me to introduce my self.

My name is _**AvatarofDeath13**_, but any of my fellow fanfic writers whom have a name listed in my 'Book of Awesomeness' can call me AvaDe13 (or Avade13 or just Avade, if you're a really good friend and are either tight with me or just plain lazy when addressing others with long/hard to remember names).

This will be my first fanfic, I have most of the plot pretty much figured out and will slowly make all the necessary details finalized with time.

Naruto: A Zoid's Tale is a fanfic that follows the events surrounding the characters of the Naruto universe in an alternate universe that combines the chakra-manipulating ninja with the mechanical monsters of the Zoids franchise. In this story, all the fights between ninjas will be substituted with fights between those ninja pilots and their Zoids.

Please note before you read this story, for the most part I will not be taking too many suggestions in relation to certain characters using certain Zoids, or certain characters being paired with other characters. This also applies to how the story will go, as unless a suggestion I find from anyone is too good not to implement, chances are you won't see anything besides my own ideas in the story.

Also note, seeing as Naruto is the protagonist and the central character of this story, I thought it would be best to inform you I have already decided and set his main pairing. In case you were wondering, Naruto's love interest will be a character that I constantly chastise Kishimoto for tossing aside without a second glance, even though I understand that it was pointless for him to do otherwise. Her name is Yugito Nii, and she will be Naruto's intended in this story, end of discussion.

I will not repeat myself, this decision is final, and unless I meet my death sooner than scheduled it will not change, although it that case this story will either be offered up to the fanfiction population to finish or left to collect dust, thus negating the whole questioning of a pairing change possibility. Most of my stories will either have the pairings set, or they will be open to variation, but I will always state which at the very beginning.

A saying of mine goes that an excellent writer can not just manipulate tension, but they are able to deliver the effect of shock even when the reader knows fully well what to expect. I can never settle for less, and I abhor a repetitive trend with little variation, and while I doubt many of my ideas are original by any means, the setup and presentation of my ideas will constitute more originality than often seen by most authors.

All in all, I will all but guarantee this story to serve as a harbinger of sorts, a role model that for many hopeful writers will serve as a rubric or measuring stick for their own initial works, and thus slowly lead fanfiction to a new golden age.

And now, my first disclaimer! Oh the euphoria is simply electrifying!

Disclaimer: I, AvatarofDeath13, do herby quote that under no circumstances do I lay claim of any aspect of the manga/animes Naruto and Zoids, all characters both living and mechanical are the property of and belong to their respective owners. Any original ideas, characters, or objects developed by myself will have any and all sources of inspiration cited and credit given to their respective parties, although the original non-canonical creations that I lay claim to in fact I claim by right as my own, and only the owners of these sources of inspiration or the creators of the animes bear any right to challenge my claims whatsoever. I make no profit from my works, and they are created for the sole purpose of bringing priceless entertainment to their creator and his reviewers, and in the circumstances that any profit is made all profits shall be delivered to the anime's creators and/or the bearers of rights to claim whatever concepts, ideas, or characters borrowed or inspired by. This is my declaration of abiding the rights of claiming, so mote it be!

And my own unique disclaimer!

Private Disclaimer: I, AvatarofDeath13 will not make such a long and unnecessary disclaimer in the future.

And now, onto the story!

~~~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~

The Village Hidden in the Leaves, the self-proclaimed greatest of the Five Great Hidden Villages, a claim given weight in comparing Konoha with the other villages in terms of military strength, economic stability, and political connections to name a few. It is said that each generation of Shinobi produced by Konoha can be related to a tree: it starts out weak and brittle at first, but if nurtured right and given enough time and attention, it become a tree so large and sturdy that together with others like it completely overshadow anything and everything else around them. And yet, why would it be so important to be the focus of our tale?

In a world populated by mechanical life forms that are commonly referred to as Zoids, one would think the humans as nothing more than scenery and these Zoids as the 'people' of earth. Yet like animals, most Zoids are incapable of unlocking their full potential because they lack the mental capacity to make logic-based decisions, running on simple instinct to live their lives day by day. Thus, we introduce humans, beings that, despite their appearance of fragile things, have long ago learned to explore and unleash their own potential, allowing themselves to survive in a world where any random Zoids could crush and kill an entire village of people unintentionally when chasing another Zoid in simple fun play.

Eventually speaking, while some humans spent their time learning to make themselves stronger, others attempted to gain power by other means, and thus birthed the origins of Zoid-human interaction. These wild Zoids, upon befriending and bonding with these outgoing humans, learned to utilize their potential to heights far beyond what was imaginable, and thus created the mutually beneficial relationship between a Zoid and what would be coined it's 'pilot.'

Unlike a horse or a bull, these Zoids were not just some steed meant to carry the humans as they fought: they themselves often waged battles in the human's stead, and soon enough the focus of future wars changed from humans fighting humans directly to indirect fighting between two or more colossal beasts of unimaginable power piloted by humans.

With the passage of time, the people whom tamed the Zoids, and the people whom tamed their own wild energies known as 'Chakra' mixed and mated, and gave birth to those whom bore both talents, giving rise to the first generations of what modern society classifies as the Zoid pilot-ninja hybrids, or Ninja-Z for short.

Eventually, after constant fighting and three horrific Shinobi wars, an era of relative peace has encompassed the world of ninja and Zoid, or at least what constitutes as peaceful in a time of hired assassins and mechanical behemoths, a time where only a seldom unlucky few experience what is considered true hardship.

However, like the calm before the storm, the world is about to turn upon itself without little to no warning, and thus we take ourselves to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, because it is here that one individual, given a blessing entwined within a curse, will serve as the deciding factor in the fate of the entire world. This individual, goes by the name of…

"**UZUMAKI NARUTO!!!"**

===X===X===X Chapter One: Genosaurer! My name is Naruto! X===X===X===

This morning within Konoha starts off with some of the best promise for a perfect day than any other in recent weeks for one Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage and entrusted and beloved leader of the entire village. Despite his age and the pains that accompany one whom bears the guilt of every death brought by his men or upon them, every voice snuffed out in his quest to make Konoha as much a utopia as he could for his precious village.

Taking a look out the window, overlooking the village that he had protected and shed blood and tears for his whole life, and for which he continues to protect and shed blood and tears, he breathes in deeply as he uses what little free time he has to relax, feeling more content with every stroke of his calligraphy brush upon another example of the 'art of writing', a rare hobby to practice in a world where more than eighty percent of one's free time was spent in relation of any kind to Zoids. This was the much-needed nirvana that Hiruzen needed: no missions to appoint or give out, no condolences to offer to families with a recent ninja death, no more of the dreaded paperwork that is considered by all Kages as the greatest unholy abomination to ever exist, and most of all, no blonde-haired whiskered troublemakers to make him lose his mind…

But like all good things, even Hiruzen's perfect day had to meet a road bump, and that came into being with the sudden commotion sounding in the waiting room of the Hokage's office, before the door burst open without warning, and an unnamed Jonin unceremoniously dropped the two things he had been dragging in his hands onto the hard wooden floor, shortly followed by not one, not two, but three platoons of Anbu.

"Hokage-sama! This is the last straw! Naruto has gone too far this time, and I believe even you will agree with me on this!", was the Jonin's loud and abrupt exclamation.

A heavy sigh was the automatic response given by Hiruzen, whose thoughts drifted to, _'…and this day was going so well, too…'_, before setting aside his brush and standing up to meet the eye, or in this case, eyes of the guilty party. Hiruzen's old dark eyes stared into two sets of eyes, one being a pair of blue eyes that seemed to shine with such purity that could calm storms and quell any savage beast, and yet at the same time eyes that masked the hollow void within the eye's owner of which he could recognize only due to his involvement in this individual's life and treatment; the other pair being a crimson red that at first glance seemed threatening but in truth held a mere mischievous curiosity clouted in innocence like it's fellow partner in crime, and at the same time it too masked invisible scars that could only be visible when the eye's owner turned to look at it's partner in concern.

Staring into the faces of these two, Hiruzen groaned and asked in a tone suggesting that this was far too common an occurrence, "What have they done this time now?"

When all the eyes drifted off to the window that overlooked the village, Hiruzen's eyes followed as well, and upon discovering the source of all the commotion, Hiruzen had to will himself to not reflexively gape like a fish at what many would consider the worst possible case of vandalism this village had ever experienced.

Upon the faces of the Hokage monument, a mountain that had the carved head of all of the Hokages of past and present and one of Konoha's greatest sources of pride and renown, what could be bluntly described as graffiti now littered the faces, which when pieced together actually seemed to give each face a different comical look. His eye began to twitch at the way Naruto and his friend had realistically created a unique expression for each face, only made worse when he realized with horror that Naruto had been extremely accurate in his 'work,' as each one fitted that specific face to a T.

The Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju has been adorned with bulging veins and biting his lips as he glared at his adjacent neighbor. Hiruzen was one of the endangered few whom knew Hashirama personally and the truth that the legendary temper and strength that Tsunade of the Densetsu no Sannin possessed had been passed down from Hashirama himself… which was supposedly why he had been assigned as Tsunade sensei when she was a Genin, because he already knew how to handle a hot-tempered Senju.

The Niidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju, in contrast, had lines drawn from his eyes to various parts of his face ranging and had a lecherous grin only given by a truly arrogant show-off completely ignorant of his two neighbors. The realistic portrayal of Tobirama was an even greater secret Hiruzen wanted to remain buried, after all who knows how the Elemental Country's Kunoichi population would react if they learned that it was Hiruzen's introduction of Jiraiya to Tobirama that created the grandstanding super-pervert and bane of all Kunoichi's that was Icha Icha Paradise's author, the Toad Sennin himself:

Upon casting a glance to his facial monument, Hiruzen was not surprised that he had been given an expression of quiet denial that gave off the impression that he wanted nothing to do with whatever fight would break out between his two predecessors and ignores the purple serpentine eye-markings adorning his eyes… wait what?! Doing a double take, Sarutobi realized with a silent horror that upon closer inspection, his monument had been slightly altered to give it a more snake-like appearance, and Hiruzen knew all too well why he had missed it. After all, only two individuals had managed to perfect what was known as the Hiruzen-Sensei Denial Expression, created in response to the foolish shenanigans conducted by two of the three subordinates of Team Sarutobi: Hiruzen himself, and his traitor of a student Orochimaru.

Noticing the trend in shocks that became more powerful upon looking at each part of his own past, resigning himself to see what memory Naruto would unintentionally revive this time, Hiruzen opened his eyes to gaze upon the visage of the Yondaime Hokage… and dropped the smoking pipe he had been preparing to light from his hand.

Out of all the 'renovations' made to the four faces of the Hokage monument, the Yondaime's was surprisingly the least affected, and in fact at first glance it looked like Naruto had simply been unable to work on the Yondaime before being spotted… but then Hiruzen saw the crude but still somewhat visible trio of lines drawn on each cheek of the Yondaime. The scariest part was: with those whisker marks the Yondaime looked exactly like an older clone of Naruto, and somehow Hiruzen instantly knew it was more than just coincidence, finally turning to glare at the duo of mayhem, his patience having finally met it's end.

The Jonin began to visibly fidget, while the quiet Anbu took the time to observe the 'handiwork' done by the two troublemakers, and upon noticing the striking resemblance between their precious Yondaime and the young boy laying at their feet, began to switch between looking back and forth between the two.

Hiruzen immediately noticed this and internally panicked, it wouldn't take long before the Anbu solved this dangerous puzzle like any other in the past, and what was worse was that the Anbu - despite being revered for carrying secrets entrusted by others to the grave if needed - were not able to keep their own self-discovered secrets for their lives. Hell, it was a well known fact that a large majority of the information fed to Kunoichi gossip magazines came straight from the mouth of the female Anbu members with better file access, especially upon discovering a secret too juicy to hide.

Deciding to nip that problem in the butt before it could rear it's ugly head, Hiruzen decided to play it safe and instead grabbed the attention of the curious party in his office by coughed and then with an added glare for effect asked, "How long did it take you to capture Naruto and his… friend?"

Of the three Anbu platoons, two of the platoons were growing nervous and knew it would be proverbial suicide to answer his question themselves, however one brave… and foolish rookie Anbu with a Tengu mask answered, "Three-hours, Hokage-sama! ", only to squeak in surprise as he experienced the combined killing intent of all the other Anbu members present, ready to pounce on him for 'snitching.'

Inwardly, Hiruzen grinned at the save he had just been granted, thanks to the unintentional opening presented by the newest rookie Anbu and his honesty that had not been conditioned to utilize all means possible to cover his elder's asses, Hiruzen mentally decided that maybe today might end off better than he had just been ready to believe, and the Anbu waited, not expecting to like what was going to be said…

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

Hiruzen took the moment needed to decide what he would do, wondering how again he allowed himself to be conned into taking this job again, and dismissed the Jonin before any more questions could be asked, before turning to face the Anbu, and barking out, "Ushi! Shishi! Kamakiri!" Like an automatic reflex, the respective Anbu Captain of each platoon came forth directly in front of Hiruzen, only to stiffen as a small but slowly growing pressure began to force itself upon them, which only seemed to increase as they began to sweat from the combination of strain and fear.

Taking his time to get them into the easiest state for him to manipulate and deal with was what Hiruzen did best, he had been far too lenient on his Anbu over the years, and he needed to remind them why he was still the Hokage. Even more so, he was enjoying the chance to cut loose a little and mess around with others like Naruto had often told him to do, which he was starting to seriously consider: Hiruzen Sarutobi seriously needed a vacation… maybe he should retire and announce either Jiraiya or Tsunade as Godaime Hokage, their reaction would be an expression worth dying for. Hell, even Naruto would do nicely as his successor… Kami knows the boy had more of the Will of Fire in his pinky than most of Konoha's ninja had together as a whole.

The small but noticeable squeal issued forth from both Shishi and Kamakiri whom were ready to buckle under the unreal pressure brought by Hiruzen's chakra, reunited him with the present, and finally decided to suppress the chakra aura, much to the relief of the three Anbu Captains whom could now breathe normally now. They realized they still weren't off the hook as Hiruzen finally asked, "Can you three explain what you were doing when your platoons were attempting to perform a task that was well beyond their capability?"

The apparent confusion that was expressed in Tengu's body motions, couple with the surprised reaction from the other Anbu led Hiruzen to continue his thoughts, "Naruto here, despite first impression is actually a master of stealth and evasion not seen since the Niidaime Hokage himself. If Naruto doesn't want to be found, chances are unless Kami herself is helping you you're not going to find him."

At the questioning looks from the Anbu, to which both Naruto and Hiruzen could only grin at, Hiruzen explained, "Truth be told, Naruto usually leads his humorous village-wide chases because I ask him to hold back on you, if he was serious I myself would be unable to locate him. In fact, the only Shinobi that have ever successfully caught Naruto with a Zoid at his best are in fact former Hebi Sannin Orochimaru and former Anbu Captain Uchiha Itachi… but that is to be expected when both helped raise and even train Naruto before they went rogue."

That sent a shock like no other through the Anbu present, as both Orochimaru and Uchiha Itachi were the supposed ultimate prodigies of their generations, whom abandoned Konoha on their own whims. Both legendary missing-nin were responsible for their bone-chilling inhuman acts before leaving, illegal experimenting and forbidden research upon human subjects on Orochimaru's part and slaughtering his entire clan save his little brother on Itachi's part.

This made the situation that much harder to accept for the Anbu, as Hiruzen was basically saying that Naruto was a prodigy that usurped both Orochimaru and Itachi in potential. What was causing many an Anbu to fall into terror was that both went rogue likely from succumbing to too much pressure, and Naruto was the worst case of a pressured individual: a pariah that basically had his entire existence scorned and rejected by Konoha.

So with this knowledge, there was essentially no estimating how much Konoha would suffer if Naruto finally snapped and went the path of his two caretakers and sensei's Itachi and Orochimaru, and that's assuming Naruto leaves enough of Konoha to run damage control within in the first place.

Naruto snorted at the Anbu's reaction, and Hiruzen silently agreed with them, as only when he himself put things into perspective for the people of Konoha, did they actually think what the consequences of their actions would beget. Deciding that he wanted answers, Hiruzen repeated his question, "Well? Ushi, Shishi, Kamakiri? I have already explained this to you in the past, so why is it this time you forget to remind your Anbu platoons that they have better things to do than work for a hopeless cause, and speaking of which… how did you even manage to catch Naruto?"

The tallest and the most broad of the Anbu captains that was named 'Bull' stepped up and answered, "Hokage-sama, I was busy interrogating the recently captured missing-nin that you had assigned me to interrogate with Ibiki, and only when I finished was I alerted that another 'Uzumaki-chase' was in progress. By the time I caught up with my platoon to dismiss them, Uzumaki Naruto had already been caught."

Taking a moment to mentally confirm this, Hiruzen eventually nodded upon realizing that he had in fact done just that in assigning Ushi to interrogate a Suna-missing nin that had information pertaining to some possible future war, which was why he had made sure Ushi and Ibiki were not to be interrupted. Ushi in response let out a breath in relief now that he was cleared and out of the 'hot zone' as Anbu called it when under the Hokage's scrutiny.

Following the actions of her predecessor, the feminine 'Lion' stood up and explained, "Like Ushi, Hokage-sama, I was also preoccupied, having just returned from another solo A-Rank mission and was on my way to report to you for debriefing when I was informed that another Uzumaki-chase was underway, and managed to catch my platoon just as they were returning to report their capture of Uzumaki." Hiruzen already remembered that detail before Shishi had finished, and acknowledged Shishi with a similar response as Ushi.

Unlike the previous two, 'Mantis' shuffled up obviously a bit nervous, which both Hiruzen and Naruto seemed to notice, and patiently waited as Kamakiri harked on about training and doing a favor and a bunch of other crackpot excuses that had nobody fooled, and Hiruzen growled in irritation, "Before I lose my temper, may I ask how you actually managed to catch Naruto-kun here?"

The answer, unexpectedly came from Naruto himself, "Hokage-jiji, I wanted to tell Yu… sorry - I remember about Anbu and their secrecy - I mean Neko-Chan, about something I found out today about Kamakiri-teme here, and completely forgot that I was being chased when I went to go talk to her.", drawing the attention of everyone including the curious Anbu 'Cat' and the nervous 'Mantis.'

When asked to go on by Hiruzen, Naruto revealed, "I wanted to tell Neko-chan that I saw Kamakiri-teme earlier today with that green-haired baka-onna Jonin that wanted to have me executed the other day, you know… the one that I snorted at because she was bragging to her friends that she could make me obey any order she had due to some stupid jutsu of hers that controlled demons, which was total bull and makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, I mean do I look like a demon?"

The answer, or the socially correct answer in front of the Hokage, was of course no, even if many of the Anbu disagreed because they thought he was a demon just because or as a result of making their lives a prank-filled hell. Naruto then decided to cut the awkward silence by finishing his tale, "They were doing the ecchi in the same alley where I was hiding in a dumpster from the Anbu and their Zoids after I bailed on the Hellcat I 'borrowed' to escape during the chase. In my hurry, I got caught by Kamakiri-teme here when he spotted me sneaking out of the dumpster."

The reaction brought quiet loathing from most of the Anbu present for Kamakiri's dishonesty and disregard of responsibility, silent rage from Neko - as she and Kamakiri had been dating for quite some time, restrained fury from Tengu - as he had fancied Neko himself and thus envied Kamakiri's luck, and pure disgust from Hiruzen as this was not the first time Kamakiri had pulled something like this.

Hiruzen growled out, "Kamakiri, this is the last straw! It appears I've been too lenient with you due to your mission success rate, but not even Kakashi abused his authority this badly when he was an Anbu Captain! You can do us all a favor, and leave your mask behind here, you are no longer an Anbu."

The words took a moment to fully reach Kamakiri, and when he finally realized this wasn't a hallucination, he reluctantly removed his mask and revealed his face to be that of one Gekkou Hayate, whom gave one last look of hate towards a smirking Naruto, before leaving the office.

After silence reigned in for a minute, Hiruzen broke it with his final, "I've heard enough. Naruto, you and your companion stay behind, Tengu, you stay behind as well. Neko, I suggest you take a week off before you resume your duties with what's happened today, the rest of you are dismissed.", which was met with reflexive 'Hai' from the Anbu and a half-hearted 'Hai' from Neko before they all left.

Getting to the point, Hiruzen looked at Tengu and made his point, "Seeing as we are short one Anbu Captain, coupled with the lack of faith I have for the division as a whole, leads me to do something a little unorthodox. Tengu, while you have only been an Anbu for a little less than half a year, you have proven trustworthy in that you can put your duties before your own standing among your fellow Anbu, and as Naruto might say, 'It's about damned time!'"

Waiting a moment to let the anticipation take over the giddy Tengu, Hiruzen continued, "I could go on, but I'm sure you have a pretty good idea of any other reasons for what I'm about to do: Tengu, I am appointing you as the new Anbu Captain to replace former Anbu Captain Kamakiri, report to Anbu HQ tomorrow to receive your Captain tattoo. You are dismissed."

With an obnoxious grin that could be felt even when hidden by his mask, Tengu could only nod and turn to Naruto and mention, "It seems that my birthday wish came true, I owe you one Naruto-kun.", which drew a devious smirk from the blonde, whom replied, "I'll hold you to that, Tengu!", which Tengu happily accepted and left with a newfound skip in his steps.

With the office alone save for the Sandaime, Naruto and his partner-in-crime, the silence that descended lasted for about three minutes, until Hiruzen simply took a deep sigh and lamented, "…what am I going to do with you, Naruto-kun? You bring both blessings and curses within each and every action you take, and I'm unable to ponder which to hold you in greater regard. You and your companion both."

The only response given to Hiruzen's comment was as indignant yelp that came from Naruto's companion, whom had remained surprisingly silent throughout the entire ordeal, which drew Hiruzen's attention from Naruto to the figure on the ground next to Naruto.

Whereas Naruto was a short, blonde-haired boy clad in a black jumpsuit with a few orange highlights, his cohort was not even human: resembling a Zoid of some sort, but it was much too small to constitute as one, and wasn't even able to be piloted. This just so happened to be a rare being that was known as an Organoid, a miniature Zoid that possessed the ability to fuse with other Zoids to enhance that Zoid's performance to levels unheard of.

This Organoid took the form of a dark crimson red fox covered in black tribal markings, with long ears akin to a rabbit, and nine long elegant tails that flailed about silently behind it. Affectionately named 'Kyu' by Naruto for his unique possession of nine tails, the Organoid Kyu happened to be the lifelong companion of Naruto, whom followed Naruto wherever he went. Kyu in fact happened to be one being Hiruzen could absolutely trust Naruto's safety with, and was Naruto's biggest lifeline in a village that treated him as being sub-human at best.

Normally, were it anyone else Hiruzen would have exacted a very harsh punishment for creating such a hassle and thus bringing possibly more paperwork for Hiruzen to fill out, but this was Naruto, a boy that had already been dealt possibly the worst hand possible by Fate and whom he saw as a surrogate grandson. Hiruzen in reality could no more punish Naruto than he could torture his other grandson Konohamaru, and thus allowed Naruto to get away with everything he did.

Guilt was the main reason for his leniency, as Hiruzen had been only able to do so much to make up for the abuse and neglect suffered at the hands of his village. As a civilian Naruto had fallen under the jurisdiction of the Civilian Council, many of whom were old crones whom lived in the past and could never be made to see with reason. Having suffered at the hands of the attack brought upon by the Nine-Tailed Bijuu that took many a life, including Konoha's beloved Yondaime Hokage after defeating the monstrosity of a Zoid, they targeted Naruto as a scapegoat for events that were essentially beyond his control.

At least Orochimaru had watched and raised Naruto for the first three years to be independent and take care of himself before going rogue, and Itachi had picked up the mantle and did it well until his own betrayal, compared to the actins of the village as a whole they were saints in comparison. During both times Naruto was nigh untouchable, what with two guardian prodigies scaring off the physically violent villagers, Naruto thus only having experienced four assassination attempts and seven mob beatings through that time, all of which were thwarted by an enraged Kyu seeing as it only happened whenever either Orochimaru or Itachi had been absent for missions and thus unable to be there to prevent it.

After Itachi's betrayal, and the council's adamant refusal to allow Hiruzen to assign Naruto any more caretakers, claiming that his 'evil' had 'tainted' Orochimaru and Itachi and did not want anyone else to fall victim to the 'curse'. With that said, open season had been essentially declared on Naruto, and it is only through a combination of miracles, Naruto's own stealth and survival skills, and Kyu's protection that Naruto had any sanity to bear from the abuse, beatings, and the worst case scenario for any child: rape.

Even to this day, Naruto refused to tell Hiruzen whom it was that had defiled him, and had basically admitted just two things: that it had happened only once, and that the rapist had been a woman. Hiruzen only found out by chance, as he had met with Naruto right after it had happened, and Naruto had never had the time needed to be able to hide his pain.

When he had decided to pop in and see how his surrogate grandson was doing, Hiruzen had unknowingly found Naruto right after it had happened, and noticed something wrong right away when Naruto was uncharacteristically quiet. He had gently prompted the blonde on what was wrong, and he had just up and tackled Hiruzen, sobbing into his robes while muttering incoherable gibberish that had Hiruzen grieving for the boy and the unknown cause of his hysterical state.

And that grief had turned to livid rage when the results of the physical and psychological diagnostic had revealed that Naruto had been subjected to rape, as never before had Naruto become so distraught from any beating or assassination attempt. In fact, usually Naruto hid any symptoms of either being beaten or surviving an assassination attempt so well that Hiruzen wouldn't know of any unless his Anbu reported them to him, and the boy wouldn't sell out anyone regardless of how they treated him.

The narrowing of the culprit's possible identity had ruled out any male as the rapist, as Naruto had no signs like anal bleeding or any other signs that he had been penetrated, and there had been no traces of foreign semen, emphasis on the foreign as semen had indeed been found… but that had turned out to be surprisingly and horrifyingly Naruto's own.

That, coupled with the numerous scratch marks that adorned Naruto's chest and back, the small remnants of vaginal fluid that were collected from Naruto's mouth and penis, and the detection of Viagra within Naruto's bloodstream all pointed to a woman being Naruto's victimizer.

Hiruzen had no qualms about having the culprit tortured and executed in a public display, but Naruto had denied him the identity of his rapist. At first thinking that Naruto was trying to protect his rapist like all his other offenders, he had been proven completely wrong when he had asked if those were his thoughts, and Naruto then gave Hiruzen the single coldest glare that he had ever experienced in his entire life.

The only answer given was, "Hokage-jiji, no one, and I mean NO ONE, is going to lay a hand on her, as she is mine to destroy and it is my hand that she will receive her just desserts. And I dare you to say otherwise." It might have been his old age, it might have been his soft spot for the boy, it might have been his wish to placate the desires of the rape victim in front of him, or it could have been that menacing bluish-silver that Naruto's eyes had somehow taken on, but in the end Hiruzen had relented to Naruto's wish.

It was sad… no, it was absolutely pathetic how Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, could allow a single child to suffer so much in a village that he, not Iwa, not Kumo, HE controlled. But there was only so much that Hiruzen could do, what with running a village hat was still recovering from the Bijuu attack twelve years ago, as well as keeping the power-hungry politicians from gaining any more say in how things are done, and he couldn't expend resources like having Anbu guard Naruto, especially when half held a similar attitude towards the boy as the majority of the villagers.

Yet, every time he looked upon the young boy, Hiruzen's heart wrenched with self-disgust and sorrow that overshadowed all of his previous failings, and he wondered how long Naruto would withstand the abuse before he finally succumbed to madness like his two caretakers had.

Even the option of just granting Naruto the title of Genin was impossible, as Hiruzen could only do so by field promotion on a council-approved mission or by appealing to the council, of which the council knew all to well and thus made every attempt to refute, knowing that if Naruto became a ninja he would then fall under Hiruzen's jurisdiction solely, and anyone whom tried anything against him would be arrested, interrogated, and finally put to death, no questions asked, as that was the fate of anyone whom tried to assault a Konoha ninja.

And Hiruzen couldn't just send him off to someone like Jiraiya or Tsunade, as while Konoha hated Naruto they would never give him up because they would rather have a unused resource that they blatantly hated than let their enemies get said resource, they were that fickle. If Naruto were to leave as he was now, the council would pull every string and connection they had, and would search to the ends of the earth to find Naruto and bring him back to his personal hell.

And if Naruto were to be granted ninja status and wandering rights, the council would simply go over his head and declare him an A or S-class Missing Nin, regardless of Hiruzen's feelings or authority, and thus Naruto would spend the rest of his life on the run.

Adopting a look that basically said that he was questioning why he even bothered to continue being the Hokage, to protect a village that no longer held his Shodaime's 'will of fire' and would steep so low as to torment and rape a young child, Hiruzen dismissed Naruto and Kyu, wondering once again if ensuring Konoha's lasting legacy was worth the price of a child's happiness, sanity, and very soul.

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

"Well… that was easier that I'd thought it would be, Hokage-jiji's gonna be pissed when he finds out what I really intend on doing, right Kyu?" was the comment made by Naruto, which received a low growl of confirmation. Presently, both boy and Organoid were within a restricted sector deep under the Hokage Tower, that Naruto believed quite possibly expanded near a fifth the size of Konoha… which when considering how large a village must be to accommodate people passing by as well as fast-moving Zoids on the prowl, really is a lot of land when one thinks about it.

Normally, Naruto wouldn't be allowed down here at this time, no scratch that, Naruto wouldn't be allowed here period! Attempting to sneak into the Hokage's tower when nobody was around alone was criminal enough to warrant a trip to the Anbu Interrogation Cells, and that didn't even compare to the charges brought upon one whom accessed the restricted areas of the Hokage's tower without proper authorization.

On the other hand, Naruto had never been one to consider torturing by Anbu the worst possible scenario he could encounter, after all he suffered more physical and mental torture from Konoha as a whole every day for years now, and there was quite literally nothing the Anbu could do to compare with that.

But _why_ was Naruto here in the first place, you may ask?

To understand, it started out with Naruto failing the Graduation Exam for the third time in a row. For the seemingly innumerable failures preceding this one, Naruto had in truth done more than enough to earn the right to pass, but discrimination from the examiners that hated him and had the authority to fail him if they felt he 'wasn't ready', led to his being failed just to make him all the more miserable.

This year the Sandaime caught onto the examiner's game, and in response to avoid future failures for Naruto's from the examiner's with irrational hatred for him, the Hokage had Naruto transferred back to his original teacher: Umino Iruka. Originally Naruto had joined with Iruka as his teacher, but when Iruka noticed Naruto's skill that rivaled experienced ninja piloting Zoids, Iruka had petitioned to have Naruto placed in an older and more advanced class that wouldn't slow him down, but that placed Naruto into the hands of teachers that were known haters of Naruto and thus leading to Naruto becoming part of Naruto's current graduating class. And even when Naruto should have gotten the fair treatment he deserved, in the end he still got screwed over.

It just seemed as if Fate never gave Naruto any leeway, and rather took her time being especially cruel in her maltreatment of him. After all, Naruto had actually managed to score not just high, but an actual perfect on the written portion of the exams, something that had many still calling shots on cheating.

Even more unfairly, Naruto had managed to score another perfect on the target and evasion portion of the exams, having used the provided firearm on the test Zoid to hit every single provided bull's-eye dead-center while dodging fire from a flying Zoid from overhead. In fact, Naruto had not only hit every bull's-eye and dodged every bit of enemy fire, he had also managed to shoot and bring down the enemy flying Zoid, all without the use of any targeting systems or auto-aim functions.

The part that drove Naruto up the wall, though, was the combat simulation portion, where the student seeking graduation would be forced in mock-combat against a certain number of examiners. In this part, the examiners would not attack, but dodge and evade the examinees Zoid for up to five minutes, with their final mark decided upon how well they did as well as how many Zoids they managed to take down if any.

Naruto, had the unfortunate luck of being examined by three of the Chunin whom truly hated him, and thus Naruto actually had to face real opponents that went all out trying to take him out. The result: Naruto had bested three Chunin examiners in less than 30 seconds, breaking the previous record held by Uchiha Itachi at defeating all three examiners in 1 minute 30 seconds, and Naruto had done it without taking a scratch, and made it look easy!

And you have to wonder just how did this… prodigious couldn't even describe Naruto's performance, not all but secure Naruto's placement as a ninja? Simple: Naruto was unable to pass because he couldn't properly Bio-Gattai with his test Zoid. Naruto knew that this was completely unfair, as even the dead last of the previous Graduating class, Rock Lee, had been able to graduate despite not having a fully-successful Gattai - and that's was due to a medical condition of Lee's - but of course Naruto always had to get the short stick in life.

It seems that the wise Council of Konoha had coincidentally put into effect a new regulation that all ninja graduates must be able to Bio-Gattai with their Zoid, or else they would fail, but Naruto knew it was no coincidence. When the council found out that Naruto actually had an unbiased opportunity to pass this year, they had thrown in that monkey wrench to ensure that Naruto still wouldn't pass, after all they couldn't let 'him' get more powerful and possibly destroy Konoha in vengeance for their trying to 'exact justice' on Naruto.

It was only made worse seeing as Naruto already knew exactly why he was ostracized and basically treated worse than any child molester or clan killer ever was: he was a Jinchuuriki, a human sacrifice. To be specific, he was the child used by the Yondaime Hokage, to take the seemingly unstoppable Bijuu Zoid the Kyuubi, and transform it into a friendly but protective Fox Organoid, Kyu himself.

Naruto didn't know all the specific details, but he had already figured out that he had been used as one of the sacrifices of whatever the Yondaime had done that had stopped the Kyuubi, the other being the Yondaime himself. He also knew that Kyu was a sort of reincarnation of the Bijuu Zoid that had attacked Konoha, as Kyu didn't go out on destruction binges like the Kyuubi had.

With some investigation, Naruto discovered that the Kyuubi's original consciousness and Bijuu energy reserves were sealed within Kyu, and the only way for Kyu was able to access any portion of the latter was through Naruto: specifically through Naruto's emotions. When Naruto was experiencing extreme negative emotions like rage or disgust, Kyu would become more aggressive and would exhibit greater physical traits than normally possible.

It appeared this was a result of the even more intricate bond between Naruto and Kyu, as Kyu's life was tied to Naruto's, and thus the original Kyuubi's instincts dictated the need to survive, and it was more than just their camaraderie that Kyu protected Naruto, even though Kyu would still have continued to do so regardless of the Kyuubi's survival instincts or not.

All of this Naruto had known for quite some time, doing the extensive research needed to piece together the facts, and even after learning the truth Naruto had never held it against his partner Organoid Kyu, and instead directed all of his ire and focused it on the villagers and their despicable actions. No matter what, the ungodly number of atrocities committed against him by the villagers was inexcusable, and the sole reason Naruto was more mentally mature and haunted than adults more than three times his age.

Getting back to the how of the current situation, when Naruto was forced to watch the other kids of his class celebrate with their parents, all the while receiving glares from them that basically told him to do everyone a favor and burn himself to ashes, who else but Naruto's other sensei this year, Mizuki, coming to tell Naruto of a special 'makeup exam' that basically involved sneaking into the Hokage's secret stash of forbidden Zoids, and making off with one of them to present to Mizuki his skills as an 'adequate ninja.'

'_As __**if**__!'_, Naruto chuckled mentally, as he silently laughed with no small amount of mirth at Mizuki's gullibility, after all Naruto had asked the Hokage countless times if there was a makeup exam to graduate, and seeing as he wasn't a ninja at this point he knew very well Mizuki was lying off his tongue when he came up to Naruto with his 'special exam'. Even without his natural talent for unearthing even the slightest ounce of deception in someone's behavior, Naruto would have easily noticed the underlying intentions of his sensei like a shark would notice blood from a wounded animal in water.

In reality, Naruto had been planning and scheming for ages now, trying to find the perfect opportunity to achieve the one thing he had sought above all else: freedom from this hellhole he called Konoha, and Mizuki had created the perfect opening for Naruto's plan.

For months the Hokage had been suspicious of Mizuki, having intelligence that could quite possibly link him to Konoha's infamous traitor Orochimaru, and just today Naruto had indirectly confirmed the Hokage's beliefs on Mizuki being a mole of sorts, indirectly meaning that Naruto - while playing the part of the 'happy, cheery, hyper ball of sunshine' that was in truth Naruto's masterfully created mask - had ranted about Mizuki's 'secret exam' knowing the Anbu were in hearing distance.

Seeing as the Hokage had yet to have him apprehended, it only confirmed that the old man had fallen right into his trap. For all the tactical genius that Sarutobi Hiruzen was, he was actually quite easy to fool if you really truly knew the guy and his way of thinking. It was quite sad that Orochimaru thought he was five steps ahead of Konoha, Sarutobi thought he was ahead of his ex-student by ten steps, and all the while Naruto was ahead of all of them by no less than twenty steps with none of the others any the wiser.

The Hokage had played his infamous 'Pseudo-Ignorance' ploy, where once he spotted a rat would have all of his ninja that were aware of the rat behave no different, making the rat fall into a false sense of security, and only when the rat had caught his prize and was on his way to share it with his fellow rats would the Hokage's ninja pounce.

Naruto had deduced that the Hokage would basically allow Naruto to run freely amok the 'unprotected' secret Zoids in the Hokage's tower, when in reality he would only have been able to gain access to the Zoids that Hiruzen believed were weak enough that Naruto really couldn't do much harm with them, but still exotic enough to fool Mizuki into believing them worth much more, and then to bag Mizuki when confronting Naruto.

Too bad Naruto had anticipated this, and had made good use of the many skills that allowed him to slip past the barricade preventing access into the restricted area that the Hokage had planned Naruto to avoid, deactivate the traps that would have stopped him if he had tried to get the restricted areas anyways, and crack the code that made it nigh impossible otherwise to get into the place the Hokage had wanted him away from.

And now we find our young whiskered blonde and his Organoid Fox companion standing in front of a set of metal doors that looked bigger and tougher than the gates into Konoha itself, waiting for Naruto's cracked code to open the door.

Upon the creaking that signified the doors were opening and hadn't been used in quite some time, it opened with a dull blue light that engulfed the two as they waited for the doors to finally open, only to gasp as they stared into what looked like some sort of… gargantuan cryogenic freezing lab. The room was very cold, that much was certain as Naruto could see his breath whenever he breathed out, and it was large enough to fit the more than a hundred above-large sized Zoids encased in ice… wait, what?

"Holy shit…" was Naruto's blunt response, although an appropriate one for the shock he was experiencing in seeing a sight that very few people in his universe had the mental capacity to picture in their imagination.

Indeed, this frozen palace had Zoids upon Zoids lined up in elongated rows not unlike books in a library, all of them frozen solid and encased in a thick layer of ice that was constantly being maintained if the cables billowing more frozen mass were any indication.

Going through aisles of these Zoids randomly, taking a moment to observe each Zoid that he passed, and he noticed that in front of each ice-entombed Zoids was a profile set up like those in from of zoo animal exhibits, except these ones described what the Zoid was, what it was intended for, and why it was kept in stasis here.

Eventually, Naruto came upon a Zoid that for some reason seemed to call out to him like no other Zoid in his life, the only one that came even close was the Strum Tyrann that the Yondaime Hokage himself piloted. It became obvious why Naruto felt this call, as this Zoid was a Genosaurer, a type of Zoid that was the predecessor of the Zoid class that the Strum Tyrann belonged to, and finding that information alone had been incredibly difficult for even Naruto to find, which only meant it wasn't supposed to be common knowledge by any means.

**Zoid-Type Base Model**: _Genosaurer_

**Model Designation**: _**Des Genosaurer**_

**Model Function****: **_Deathsaurer-esque Zoid _(Potentially believed to be able to unleash destruction on a scale similar to that of the Deathsaurer of legend, thus being able to serve the same purpose of an untouchable engine of destruction.)

**[Model Specifics are unauthorized from view by ****SSS-Level ****Classification]**

**Model Owner****: **_N/A _(Originally intended for the Yondaime Hokage's son, until the child's untimely 'death' during the Kyuubi attack.)

Reading the profile out loud, Naruto became only more interested as he read along the small but curious information on the Zoid's profile, cursing with unbidden jealousy upon reading the line about the Zoid's intended owner, "Damn, someone has all the luck!" His jealousy turned into disgust and fury when he read the part detailing why the Zoid had ended up becoming a frozen mummy.

Reason for Imprisonment: Zoid was deemed too dangerous to allow to roam in the Sandaime Hokage's Zoid ranch. The Zoid would not accept any pilots, and killed anyone whom tried to pilot it. It is believed by the Sandaime that the Yondaime used some unknown sort of identification system based on a single genetic code imprinted in the Zoid's memory bank, to ensure that his son and only his son could pilot this Zoid without being rejected and killed.

To best describe the unfairness of the fate that had befallen this Zoid, Naruto growled out an ironically fitting, "Fate is a cruel bitch!". As Naruto laid down next to the frozen Zoid, he took the time to think of just simply how ironic the similarity of fate that he and this Zoid shared: it's not every day you meet any being, Zoid or not, that can relate to you in suffering, especially when considering how fucked up Naruto's situation was.

For the next few minutes the world had muted, not a word was spoken, not a sigh was released, not a growl was issued, a complete void of sound - save for the depraved laughter of Kami herself - as she cackled at the sick humor one might find in this meeting of martyrs.

While respecting the silence, Kyu was nevertheless active and restless, and just now more concerned over his partner's mental state than ever before and yet afraid to interrupt Naruto's 'trance'; thus distracting himself by switching between looking over the other frozen Zoids that only now seemed just a part of the scenery, staring at the coffin of ice that encased the potentially great Des Genosaurer, and finally glancing to his eerily quiet partner and his own locked stare to the Zoid he found he could empathize with.

As if an unknown signal was given, the solemn silence was broken when Naruto, in a melancholy tone remarked, "Isn't it funny how life works? When people say life isn't fair, I never imagined it would mean that it would be biased, and certainly not blindly bitch-fit biased like one of Sasuke's more 'unhinged' fangirls are to any human being that isn't the tragic 'Uchiha Prince': meaning no matter what you do you're never going to be considered in their thoughts for more than just a few seconds."

Completely dead to the world, Naruto's pain only continued to egg him on, keeping him oblivious to the growing fright that was visibly overcoming Kyu, whom unlike his partner has noticed that the frozen Genosaurer's eyes had started to glow a blood-red underneath the ice.

"You look truly magnificent, and yet here you are in a fucking tomb of ice! The diamond to surpass diamonds that is hidden away by a world composed of arrogant lumps of coal that fear losing their undeserved superiority. You're almost like… no, you're exactly like me, Des Genosaurer: a sacrifice made for the 'greater good' of our races, it's so ironic how we've both managed to get screwed over so badly that I wouldn't be surprised if the answer to life's purpose was simply to make our lives into one endless nightmare."

With a renewed vigor Naruto continued on, unaware that his Organoid companion was edging away slowly from him as the ice surrounding the Des Genosaurer began to give way little by little. Had anyone else been in Naruto's place, they would have immediately noticed the tell-tale signs that indicated that the Des Genosaurer was trying to escape it's frozen cage, but Naruto is always an exception to the norm in any situation.

"You've been basically damned to spend essentially the rest of eternity locked in this frozen hell, while I seem to have been damned for seemingly forever to roam the fiery hell that is Konoha. I can't really support the idealism that 'one should be grateful to Kami every day they are alive and experience pain - cause let's face it - for us it's the reverse: Kami should be grateful that she isn't alive and able to experience the pain that we go through every day we are alive."

The groan that seemed to emanate from the frozen Genosaurer as the ice around it began to give way was ignored by Naruto, whom seemed lost in his own little Zen as he went on in divulging the little tidbits of their ironically parallel fates, which seemed to motivate the frozen Zoid only more and more, until finally Naruto gave the unknowingly last push needed to begin a revolution.

"I bet my life, if Kami hadn't turned you into a Zoid version of a 'Jinchuuriki' like the Shinigami did me, you'd already be revered among all the other legendary Zoids of myth… that is, had the kid that the bastard Yondaime fathered managed to live and not bite the dust like his old man. If, from the get go, he lived, and wanted to free and pilot you, just as badly as I do right now, you'd already be the Emperor of all Zoids by this point in time…"

The large shard of ice sized like a kitchen sink that dropped and shattered only a foot or two away from Naruto snapped him out of his daze, and he looked up to see the Zoid that he had been talking to had suddenly decided to awaken and attempting to free itself. With one last shattering roar, the Des Genosaurer's tore from the ice encasing it's body, and turned to the one that had somehow managed to talk the Zoid into getting free.

Naruto quietly waited some distance from the Zoid, ironically frozen himself - except he was frozen by fear, the only thing standing between the powerful and possibly uncontrollable Zoid was Kyu, and as the Zoid seemed to stare at Naruto with what looked like curiosity, Naruto wondered if he would ever find out the one question that still plagued him to this day: why had the Yondaime chosen him of people to condemn to a fate that made Hell look benevolent?

So it came as a surprise to Naruto as the Des Genosaurer suddenly seemed to realize something, somehow inexplicable sensing that the Zoid was beyond elated for discovering something, and then proceeded to open the part of it's chest that was the cockpit of the Zoid and lower a cable to the floor that was obviously used to get into the cockpit to pilot the Zoid.

Having been shocked to the point that he couldn't yell, Naruto could barely stutter out, "Y-y-you w-w-w-want… m-me, to p-p-pilot y-you?", and the brief nod of the Des Genosaurer's head sent Naruto into a daze. His biggest question: why did it want him to pilot it, when it said that only the Yondaime's son… and suddenly, it seemed as if each and every single question Naruto had ever asked had been answered all at once.

Only the Yondaime's son was supposed to be able to pilot the Des Genosaurer, the Yondaime had used him of all children to become the sacrifice of Konoha, the Yondaime was the only other Konoha citizen to posses the exact same hair color, style, and eyes as Naruto. It could only mean: Naruto, was the son of the greatest ninja to ever live and Konoha's greatest Hokage, the Yondaime. As if subconsciously looking toward another source to confirm this, Naruto turned towards the Des Genosaurer's profile, and noted the last little tidbit that he hadn't seen earlier.

_**Parent Zoids**_

_Maternal_ Zoid Parent - _**Strum Fury**_

_Maternal _Zoid Parent _Pilot_ - _Uzumaki Kushina_

**Paternal** Zoid Parent - _**Strum Tyrann**_

**Paternal **Zoid Parent **Pilot** - [Yondaime Hokage] **Namikaze Minato**

If Naruto needed any more proof, beyond knowing that the Des Genosaurer that seemed to relate more to himself than any diary or imaginary friend ever could, was essentially his Zoid-brother, seeing as they shared the same Zoid/Pilot parents, however if there was any more disbelief on his face, he didn't show it as his face was lowered to shadow his eyes and face.

When he did turn to look up, though, the look that one would have witnessed would have made the Shinigami himself piss his robe, as Naruto's eyes no longer displayed the pure radiant innocence of his mask or the cunning aloof genius that Naruto often hid from view; instead an ice-cold hollow intensity that dared Fate to test her luck once more fucking with him, now made itself the permanent resident expression within Naruto's eyes. While anyone else would question themselves at the very least if they looked into Naruto's eyes, Kyu and the Des Genosaurer only felt empowered and assured in what they knew was going to happen, upon staring into those bluish-silver eyes.

With such finality and authority in his tone that begged no argument, Naruto spoke with a slowly rising volume, "We're leaving, now. I'm sick of the pain, I'm sick of the hate, I'm sick of the abuse, I'm sick of the lies, and most of all I'm sick of KONOHAGAKURE! Konoha will not keep me here any longer, even if they were to offer me the Hokage's position!" Grabbing the wire and being pulled to the cockpit, while Kyu simply climbed his way onto the Des Genosaurer's back, Naruto instinctively engaged the Zoid's Bio-Drive, and for the first time Naruto felt the sensation that only a Zoid Ninja could feel when Gattaied with his Zoid.

Making the way towards a way out of this frozen nightmare, the Des Genosaurer found a Zoid launch bay that would send them quite a ways from Konoha. Unbeknownst to Naruto, his eyes had changed once again, to a very bizarre metallic silver lacking any of the earlier signs of blue, where instead of the typical normal shape of a human eye, concentric rings that continued from where his pupil would be to where the whites of his eyes and beyond, eyes that still retained every single ounce of the frozen intensity that he had now made his own.

Naruto remained completely unaware of this, however, as so focused on the here and now that it wasn't even worth noting. Having planned and dreamt of this day for most of his life, with a conviction spoken like a zealot reciting their sacred mantra Naruto declared, "Today, just like Orochimaru-sensei and Itachi-sensei before me, I too break free from the chains that bind me to the abomination that is Konoha! Like the dragon of legend, I too shall carve a path of destruction and carnage, as I lay waste to a world that has forsaken me! Today, I TAKE FLIGHT!!!" The last that could been seen after that, was the speeding form of the newly released Zoid departing via the secret launch bay, as the Des Genosaurer, Kyu, and Naruto finally escaped the cage housing all of their pain: Konoha.

~~~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~

Finally, the first chapter of my story is complete, and over 10,000 words to boot! Not bad for my first time, eh? Although this chapter is not betaed and even I recognize it could use a lot of improvement and I guarantee will have numerous spelling and grammatical mistakes, but even then I simply want to get my work into production, only later will I worry about making perfect chapters with minimal errors.

Now, I know one of the biggest questions that people are going to ask me is this: Why a Genosaurer of all things for Naruto's Zoid?

My answer is very complicated, and it alone might take a thousand or two words to get into even a properly detailed explanation that won't incite flamers with intelligence to flag me to death. Hehehe, I must be excited if I unknowingly made a multitude of puns in the same phrase, in fact while I'm on my writing high I'll do something I rarely ever do: make a decision on the fly. But that will be discussed later.

Why a Genosaurer?

My answer is best explained in another question: Why not a Genosaurer?

Many people when thinking of what Zoid Naruto would pilot in a Zoid-Naruto crossover, would imagine a Zoid normally used by a heroic character, like a Liger-type Zoid (Blade Liger, Liger Zero) or a Zoid that matches certain themes of his character, like the Shadow Fox.

Who's to say that it would be a good choice for him, and yet who's to say there is another choice that could be just as good if not better? I imagine, for example, upon reading The Dragon Dilemma many readers (not including myself, I am actually quite neutral on the topic and simply appreciated the story itself) were disappointed that Naruto went the way of the Liger, despite him being partnered with Shadow, an Organoid that was commonly associated with Tiger or Geno-type Zoids.

You see, there are many things that I find particularly loathsome, and that is following trends. Everyone believes that the characters that uses the powers of light and dream of peace to be pure and compassionate, and characters that use the powers of darkness and wish for war to be corrupt and heartless.

Very few will ever take the leap and do what they want to do, regardless of how many people claim it to be wrong or immoral, or simply just too disturbing to think about (I will admit in full honesty that even I am somewhat hypocritical by saying this, as I make my intolerance for yaoi made well-known and unyielding). People care so much on the opinions of others that they forget that their lives aren't decided nor run in a committee: you don't have a bunch of people get together and decide for you whether or not you can go get a glass of milk from your own refrigerator, do you?

Even in the rare cases that people go against trends, there is only so far that they, for example, will allow a certain character to rise or fall before it becomes too dangerous to go any further with them.

I say that is the coward's way out. There is no defined limit to how evil or how good a person can become, or better yet, whether or not a person is truly good or evil to begin with. I mean, two great examples of people that fit this scenario would be Dumbledore from the J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, and Nagato/Pein from Masashi Kishimoto's manga Naruto.

Dumbledore is a commonly played on character in fanfiction, and is usually played in more numerous lights than most other fictional characters in existence can compare to: he's been portrayed as: an eccentric grandfather that loves and is loved by everyone, a delusional relic whose forgotten to see past his ideality and witness reality, a detached leader whom treats those he trusts like expendable assets, a corrupt puppeteer that manipulates others to ensure his continued power, and even an amoral monster that will grow to even greater lengths for power than his supposed 'darker' equal.

In the case of Dumbledore, whom in his canon portrayal in the Harry Potter series is that of a leader of the light, whom like many of the people whom have or nearly have created their own undoing's, only has the best intentions at heart, but yet often creates just as much or even more harm than good. As the saying goes, 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions', and because there are so many varied opinions of Dumbledore's actions being innocent or not, justified or not, benevolent or not, etc., Dumbledore has a fitting number of portrayals. In a sense, Dumbledore is a lot more human than most people give him credit for.

The case of Pein, on the other hand, is an equally controversial issue that even now raises serious and intense debates, and quite possibly even raises questions concerning the morals and beliefs of people in reality. Pein, unlike Dumbledore, was a primary villain of the Naruto, whom has committed more than enough acts that would normally have him grouped with several other characters that many belief an eternity of suffering in hell would be too rewarding a fate upon their demise.

However, like the case of Dumbledore, Pein's actions and intentions seem like complete opposites. In Pein's desire to end war and establish a permanent peace among mankind, his answer to bringing about such a Zen would be creating a weapon so destructive that it would make mankind so fearful of violence, as they would only end up being smitten in the end, that they would rather go along with the concept of eternal peace rather than continue the needless suffering.

My point being, a fictional character is possibly more godlike than any God (or Gods) of any religion could possibly be, as while any religious deities might have limits on what path and actions they can or cannot take or conduct, fictional characters are only limited to what their universe's rules dictate their own limits are (meaning you decide just how far 'gone' any character can be).

I'm tired of ranting, though, so I'll just go onto the little contest that will also bring up a part of the 'system' that is my collection or writings and works.

The First Contest!

I'll start off small, to get the basic understanding of how things will work with me clear with all of you.

Going back to my mentioning finding multiple puns in my statement concerning lengthy explanatins and flaming me until I die? Well I'll give the first five people, who can identify at least three of them (only one pun can be shared between two people, any more and it will be invalidated) one free 'Madness Ticket!'

)+++++(-)+++++(-)+++++(

_**The Madness Ticket System**_

Any member of our esteemed community, whom fulfills a special requirement/completes a random task I assign/wins a contest of sorts (like the one I just presented) will earn from me one or more 'Madness Tickets.'

A Madness Ticket is basically my equivalent of a grantable wish from Shenlong/Porunga (watch Dragonball Z if you have no idea who that Shenlong or Porunga are, and shame on you if you have and still don't know), that is, you basically have a temporary say in something or someone in one of my stories.

You could turn in a Madness Ticket you 'hold', and could for example, have an OC of yours featured and made prominent in my stories. You might also want to see the story focus more on detailed extensive battle scenes or steamy lemon scenes (yes, I will write lemons in the future, and all stories that might include lemons will be rated M to indicate such), or change focus to a character that is usually underdeveloped and unused by most Fanfics. Hell, you might even decide you want me to feature an omake that you yourself wrote, at the end of one of my story's chapters!

Of course, like the Eternal Dragon's wishes, so to is the range and form of possible 'wishes' that I may 'grant' finite. For example, I will refuse to grant any wish that involves anything that exhibits, supports, hints at, insinuates, and/or describes yaoi or yaoi sentiments. I'm not a yaoi fangirl, I'm AvatarofDeath13: the exact opposite of a yaoi fangirl (anyone says that means I'm a yaoi fan boy, you'll see just exactly how 'understanding' I can be), and I am a logical thinker whom places precedence on rationality and what makes sense, and in my opinion (remember it's an opinion, not what is fact, my beliefs are my own and I'm entitled to my opinions just like everyone else is) yaoi commonly ignores and refutes these ideals. I'll put up my yaoi rant later up on my profile.

I will also refuse to grant any wish that would interfere with the final outcome of my stories to the point that my endings would not be possible without using such plot devices like the infamous deus ex machina. If for example, and note this is all hypothetical, you want me to make the King Gojulas the penultimate antagonist Zoid of the story, when I already have the Seismosaurus planned for that role, unless I decide that I'm my own worst enemy, I won't be able to grant that wish.

Another wish I might not be able to grant involves character pairings. Normally, I am very lenient on who will be paired with who in romantic pairings (as it gives me a lot more variety to work with, again I will remind you of my zero-tolerance policy concerning yaoi), but there comes a time that a request for a pairing will turn up, that if I go through with it, would threaten the entirety of the efficient machines that are my stories.

Let's say, that you want Orochimaru to be paired with Tsunade, but I have planned for Tsunade to be loyal to Konoha and protecting it's people like her canon version, and Orochimaru to be loyal to his ambitions and his dream of destroying Konoha like his canon version, and it's a critical pillar of the story. Their lies the stumper: how do I get them to go loony and get together for the typical 'and they lived happy ever after, The End?' The answer is: I most likely wouldn't.

Believe me when I say Orochimaru is one of my favorite Naruto characters, as well as my favorite characters in anime as a whole, but where I see endearing quirks, others would see unholy features. I mean, if you were Tsunade, would you be able to ignore that Orochimaru has no qualms about raising people from the dead, people that might be your loved ones, just to mess with some adversary's head? That he regularly tortures and experiments on people like a ten-year old plays with legos? That he is more obsessed with staying young and alive than any other female, Tsunade herself? And don't even get me started on his soul-jumping bodies, regardless of the age or the gender of the body in question!

My point is, I'm not going to do such things as mary-sues, overused clichés, or character bashings… at least only to a certain degree for the latter: as for example, I won't make Sasuke an Uchiha with a god complex who believes himself infallible that gets his ass beat every single fight, or turn Sakura into a raving bitch who'd rape her own mother than think Sasuke as anything less than perfect and is seen as worthless by every character and Tonton.

That doesn't mean I won't capitalize on the faults of individuals, such as Jiraiya's perversion or Gai's… youthism, to make a big laugh every now and then. It just means that I'm not going to turn a character into a punching bag that everyone cracks and flames just because they have or do something that I or somebody else doesn't particularly like or approve of.

To make a long story short, the cashing in of a Madness Ticket will only allow your ideas to go so far, as my job isn't to appease you and the rest of the masses… my job is whatever I feel like doing at the time. Do not worry if you want to cash in a Madness Ticket for something and I am not able to grant that request, as you'll still be able to save that Madness Ticket, as when one of my readers gets a Madness Ticket, you keep it until you spend it: it doesn't expire.

Unless you try to change my mind concerning yaoi, then you'll have each and every single Madness Ticket you possess revoked and your involvement within anything surrounding my stories banned for life. And I'm completely serious on that threat, don't test my patience because I have none, if you give me reason to I will not hesitate in enacting the privileges granted to me as a Fanfiction writer.

Another note to mention, is that if you save up four Madness Tickets (three or even two in the possible future, if in fact Madness Tickets become just as hard to come by as common sense is nowadays), you get an even better wish: an idea for a story that I MUST write.

Yes, if you decide to save up on the 'insanity', you can contribute your own ideas into your own chaotic brainchild that I will raise, nurture, and care for, and you will have final authority on what happens in the story, yes that means that I will have to listen to your decisions even if I don't agree with them.

Of course, there will be limits to what I will and won't write, like with yaoi, there are just some things I won't do. Usually, however, this would involve something like a book/anime series or something that I have little to no knowledge about, and which would take wayyy too much of my writing time to understand and become an authority on to do a good story for. That means, unless you yourself are able to somehow catch me up to speed on a certain series or work that you want me to write about, and I don't mean the simple who-what-when-where-why summary, chances are I will be unable to grant your request. More will be said on this in the future.

Anyways, I hope that my endless capacity for mind-boggling quirks and love of oxymorons has not yet driven you away from me and my writing, but you are entitled to whatever you want to do. My final bout of wisdom for you is this: remember your capabilities are ultimately decided by yourself. You might get fired for mooning your jackass of a boss, but it's not like you are 'physically' designed to be completely incapable of being able to turn around and pull your pants down in order to bend over in an insulting manner to someone you find irritating, do you?

_**AvatarofDeath13, over and out!**_


	2. Memoirs of a Snake, Cat and Fox Collide!

_**Basic Text-Style Explanation**_

~Normal Text~

The black, demonic Berserk Fuhrer sniffed the lovely, gentle flowers.

MARKER= Regular Text

~Thoughts~

'_I hate you, AvaDe, you bat-shit loco, manipulative son of a bitch!'_

MARKER= _Italics_

~Dialogue~

"All your base are belong to us!"

MARKER= "Double-Quotation Marks"

As well as...

_**Special Text-Style Explanation**_

~Zoid-Speech~

"**You're avenger status is pissing me off, Uchiha Sasuke!**

MARKER= Underline and **Bold**

~Organoid-Speech~

"_I'll drown myself in sulfuric acid before I Gattai with a Molga!"_

MARKER= _Italics_ and Underline

~Demonic/Enhanced Speech~

"**I ****hate**** Molgas!"**

MARKER= "Double-Quotation Marks" & **Bold**

XOXOXOXOXOHOXOXOXOXOX

Hello everyone! It's me, AvatarofDeath13 again!

To verify that I am myself and not some idiot hacking my account to discredit myself, I will say something that only the true me would say: SAI CREEPS ME THE **FUCK** OUT!!!!!! WHAT KIND OF A FUCKING NORMAL DISCUSSION TOPIC IS A GUY'S _PENIS_?!!!!!

Anyways, I'm surprised that I've received such numerous and supportive reviews for my first story and chapter, and I take that as an initiative to continue maintaining the effort to produce such endearing works.

Now, in the previous chapter, I mentioned that I would not take many suggestions for character's Zoids. Well, I just realized only now how many characters and how many Zoids would have to be thought up of. This it seems only proves that I am still just an amateur in writing fanfics, seeing as anyone whom writes crossover (or fanfics with crossover elements) would have anticipated this.

Now I'm beginning to see why there hasn't been such an excess of Naruto/Zoid crossovers despite it being a popular idea. And I find it embarrassing that I, someone who is the type to always stay prepared and vigilant for such problems as this, was caught unawares by this in particular. Oh well, it's not a big deal, and if it is, I'll just do what I always do when I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place: blame all my troubles on yaoi.

That being said, I am going to usurp my own authority and override my own declaration of being impartial to the suggestions and ideas of my readers (because like Chuck Norris, I too am able to fight myself and still win two victories without getting a loss, I'm just awesome like that) in regards to people piloting Zoids.

So keep on throwing those ideas for Zoids and their ninja pilots! Who knows, I may decide to trash one of my ideas to include one of yours!

Now, I'm going to be frank and bring up an issue, I need serious help with the nine Jinchuuriki, more specifically: their Zoids. I have yet to finish choosing a Zoid for each and every single one of the Jinchuuriki, and so far I only have the defined battle role for each of the Jinchuuriki. So far, only four out of the nine have their Zoids chosen, and that's because I had planned on them since before I began writing.

So first, I'm going to list the Jinchuuriki and then their type of combat role, and then I will check over the reviews for this chapter to see what Zoids you guys have suggested. Note it not's completely necessary, but I'd like to see what ideas you have for the Jinchuuriki's Zoids.

Remember, there are just **examples**, as long as the battle repertoire of the Zoid or Zoid's that you suggest match the fighting-type category that I specified for that single Jinchuuriki, I will be more than willing to consider them as options. And besides, it's not like all the characters have to have only one single Zoid.

The four Jinchuuriki that I have already specified their Zoids for are: Naruto, Yugito, Gaara, and Fuu. Their Zoids have been planned and detailed and ultimately chosen (which is a relief, as otherwise I'd take even longer to finish writing the chapters), so they're out.

Yagura - Close-Combat Fighter/Lion-Liger-Tiger-Wolf-{other four-legged carnivore}-Type Zoid (i.e. Victory Liger, Trinity Liger, etc.)Roushi - Support/Large-Type Zoid {i.e. Gordos, Elephander, etc.) Han - Long-Range Gunner-Type Zoid (i.e. Black Horn, Gunbluster, etc.)Utakata - Flying Type Zoid (i.e. Raynos, Storm Sworder, etc.)Kirabii - Assault/Very Large Size-Type Zoid (i.e. Gojulas, Iron Kong, etc.)The Liger Zero will not be suggested, I already have plans for it!

Anyways, before I go onto writing the next chapter, I'd like to address and respond to the many reviews that I have [happily I might add] received!

+=+=+=[Begin My Addressing of Reviews]=+=+=+

**Mike: **Thanks for being the first to review! And here's the update, I'll begin working on the next chapter as soon as I can!

**guise: **I'm glad you did, I put a lot of effort into that and I did make a few mistakes, which I will correct whenever I have the chance, most likely when I'm bored and have nothing better to do! I still don't have a beta, and until then I'm going to have to proofread myself, which shouldn't be hard seeing as I have my own self-diagnosed case of multiple-personality disorder! Who says multiple personalities can't be a beneficial condition?

**roshane: **I understand your viewpoint. Some people simply do not like canon Naruto's apparent lackadaisical attitude towards people whom often try to kill him or worse, among other similarly bland traits. Some people associate Naruto's personality with awesomeness, hell any guy that deals with having the world loathe you for being what you are by waking up every day and walking out with a fucking big smile on his face, has at the very least balls of adamantium; but I'm an objectivist, and I know for certain I would never be as forgiving as Naruto (although, I myself never forgive any transgression made against me - no matter how unintentional or accidental it may be - so that in itself is a moot point) is towards those that would treat me like I'm am abomination whom doesn't deserve existence one second, and then worshipping my like I'm a demi-god the next.

**Raidentensho: **I thank you for your suggestions, I will later on in my forum make a list of all the Zoids I plan on using for the many different clans, and I appreciate the help and look forward to the many ideas you might suggest!

**wolfdiablo**: While I never did state that I wanted Naruto in The Dragon Dilemma to pilot a Genosaurer, I do agree with your sentiments on his piloting a Zoid that goes against the norm of a heroic Zoid (and which I myself would pilot, not out of simple favoritism, but simply speaking I realize that Zoids with Charged Particle Cannons would ensure the highest chance of survival/victory in any type of aggressive battle).

**Arsenel: **Thank you for being the first person to touch upon that particular point. I actually based a little bit of Naruto's behaviors and agendas on my own childhood. While I haven't been raped or beaten to near death, I have had difficulty with life, being a hidden genius of geniuses that was extremely introverted - due to the background of my childhood - and I acknowledge now that I became an adult mentally by the age of 7 (no, I didn't lose my virginity you shotacon-loving perverts, and I wasn't attending college or something along those lines, I simply experienced the ultimate epiphany: I realized the 'truth' of the world).

I haven't even reached twenty-five and I am already doing and saying things that I've planned - down to the smallest nanoscopic detail - to do since before I turned ten, and which continues on for pretty much the rest of my life [don't even think of calling me on a Shikamaru, or you'll see something that makes spam look like cotton candy], so I know very well how to portray someone like the Naruto I have presented.

In this story, Naruto is going to act and behave in a paranoid manner similar to Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, although not to the exact same extreme, as Naruto is going to be the more subtle paranoid-type of individual that uses unorthodoxly-hidden secret cameras and false personality masks, whereas old Mad-Eye is the blunt paranoid-type since he is widely known for always carrying and only drinking from his own flask and reacting violently to each and every perceived threat.

The subtle paranoid type is a very appropriate behavior for Naruto in my opinion, not only because of his portrayed childhood but also because ninja are stressed upon and emphasize on being subtle and cunning, and Naruto's inherent unpredictability is sure to only bolster the creativity in his paranoid actions. But I digress, as otherwise I'll keep on talking and my 10K chapters will become 20k chapters that will prompt skipping, something that I would find heartbreaking!

**Discipel-of-Godric: **Were you just another reader whom hasn't shown an aptitude for reading particularly good stories, I would not take this review too seriously. However, coming from you, whom I have observed reading and favoring such incredible stories that even _**I**_ find breathtaking, such as _Naruto's Going Digital _by **CrimsonTearsSharingan**, _Kage no Naruto _by **Artful Lounger**, and _The Demonmage_ by **Chaosdriver**, I feel as if Christmas, Valentine's Day, and my twenty-first birthday have come early!

To be compared to such epic authors this early in my fanfic-writing career, despite having written only _one _chapter of just _**one**_ story, is like calling me the Itachi of fanfics - one of the highest compliements I could even bother conceiving. I might get an orgasm just from reading such ego-boosting reviews as this!

Note, though, that I deny that I am an Itachi of fanfics, as I'm nowhere near comparing my own uberbadassness as the real n00b-pwning Genjutsu-hax0r that is Uchiha Itachi, and yes, I just made that word up on the spot, BITE ME!

**RockBane**: First of all, I'm honored and was looking forward to your [hopefully] eventual review, and surprise to say I'm shocked that you looked into my story this early into my fanfic-writing work.

I'm sorry if you took any offense to me insinuating anything about how you wrote The Dragon's Dilemma, and believe me I could never think any no less of it, regardless of any issues about Naruto's Zoid. After all, your story was what inspired me to start off with this particular category of fanfic: the Naruto-Zoid crossover stories.

I'm not too surprised about the lack of information, hell Zoids is a well-established anime/manga/toy franchise that has youtube videos showing off people's constructed Zoids, but there is a surprising lack of episodes for the Zoid's anime series (the only complete/near-complete series hosted I know of is the 26-episode New Century Zero series, which I can direct you to if you or any of my other readers are interested).

I have to use my skills in browsology (made up word for 'the science of browsing the web') to find any informative sites that isn't the Zoid's Wikia site, as it only has so much information and often leaves me hanging when researching data on a particular Zoid-subject or Zoid-model.

I'm particularly looking forward to seeing what you have to say about my work, as earlier stated your story gave me the push needed to take up writing fanfics instead of merely reading them!

**Bakuto Masaki: **Most Zoid crossovers aren't exactly terrible, they usually just fall under 10,000 words before they end up on permanent hiatus, often having mediocre grammar and usually a varying amount of effort put into the writing. My definition of terrible is anything with yaoi, I'm biased, deal with it! As for evolving the Genosaurer… you'll see!

**Dark Raven 19: **Thank you for making me feel much better about the ending, I put so much effort into the beginning and establishing the story basis, and I realized that I might write a chapter too long that nobody will bother reading most of it, or just decide to skip to the part where Naruto get's his Zoid, which would then disappoint them as it isn't nearly as large as the rest of the chapter is in size.

As you can see, I have updated, and I will try my best to update my stories as quickly as possible, without rushing and lowering their apparent high-grade appeal and quality. The next chapter will have to wait for the fan response that I mentioned, as I don't want to end up being a one-trick pony when it comes to making a Zoid team.

+=+=+=[End My Addressing of Reviews]=+=+=+

So here we go, the next chapter of Naruto: A Zoid's Tail.. I mean Tale! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or Zoids, seriously I forgot to add this, don't sue me for copyright infringement Kishimoto and… that guy whom invented Zoids, yeah him too!

Private Disclaimer: I will try to remember to not mistake koalas for cannonballs and thus sell them to the drug-high One Piece pirates for quick cash… try being the key word…

Additional Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, don't sue me Mr. Creator of One Piece!

~~~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~

Within the Village Hidden of the Leaves, normally a quiet and peaceful place blessed with a calm serenity within the air that attracted many a tourist and ninja, an yet it was now the source of rampant pandemonium and chaos, as villagers ran around partying and celebrating, Anbu were leaping to and fro in search of something, and one old formerly-retired Hokage was now more active and serious than ever in his entire reign as the Third Fire Shadow.

"Naruto, why would you want to run away?", was the biggest question on the mind of Sarutobi Hiruzen as he pondered the recent disappearance of his surrogate grandson, son and legacy of the Yondaime Hokage, and his one hope towards a benevolent Konoha free of prejudice and full of the Will of Fire like his teachers Hashirama and Tobirama Senju had fought and died for.

'_Now that was a stupid question if there ever was one.'_ was Hiruzen's immediate thought after thinking about the possible reason, or in this case, reasons that Naruto would want to leave a place that he was born and raised in, a place that one normally would call home, _'Let's see where we can begin, maybe it's the part where Konoha __**damned **__Naruto to the life of a __martyr__, and essentially made the village no more his home than a torture and interrogation chamber was home to a high-priority prisoner with vital information!'_

To be perfectly honest, Hiruzen was glad that Naruto was gone from this village, and had his brilliant escape occurred without the whole village finding out, he might have already begun privately celebrating Naruto's newfound chance at happiness. But Hiruzen knew that the council, whom now knew of the Jinchuuriki's departure, would never just let him go, they would cry and scream and whine and bitch, and when that didn't work, they would do what they always did: take matters into their _own_ hands.

It seemed, in Hiruzen's opinion, that Fate was as much a spiteful bitch as she was a cruel one, and when she was slighted in any way that made her lose face, she would not hesitate to retaliate by whatever means she deems necessary, to appeal to her twisted pride.

Unknown to Hiruzen, Naruto, or anyone else that could be spoken for or against this, the being that was Fate was doing nigh the exact opposite of what she had made habit in her treatment of the pariah of Konoha and his Zoid. It seems that Fate had experienced a significant change of heart, and was now trying her best to make it up to them, which was possibly more difficult than establishing a permanent peace to the world.

Fate was a stubborn bitch if anything, however, and despite knowing the daunting difficulty of that task, nevertheless began to work as she pulled her stings and weaved her designs, making it so the future of Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, and the future of several other important figures, were about to come to ahead. The play was sold out, the time has arrived, the stage was set, and the world of ninja was in Act 1 Scene 1 of the coming revolution, and the best part of it all was: the cast was none the wiser.

===X===X===X Chapter Two: Memoirs of a Snake, Cat and Fox Collide! X===X===X===

Hiruzen found out, from the report made by the Anbu Torture and Interrogation Head, Morino Ibiki, that Mizuki had jumped the gun and decided, when Naruto had not shown up like the sneak had planned, that he himself had to steal one of the Zoids from the Forbidden Enclave that was part of a secret facility that was hidden deep underneath the Hokage tower, and he had been caught like the rat he was. Like when the cat catches the rat by it's tail: Anbu Tengu was the paw that caught the rat and Ibiki was the mouth that tore and ate the rat that was Mizuki.

The now catatonic ex-Chunin revealed in his interrogation that the mastermind behind Mizuki's attempts was none other than Orochimaru, his former student and Hebi Sannin, just as Sarutobi expected. It appeared that unlike Hiruzen originally concluded, however, that Mizuki had not been ordered to kill Naruto while taking the Zoid, rather he had been ordered by Orochimaru to not only capture the Zoid, but Naruto as well if given the chance, although it wasn't the greatest priority... at least that's what Mizuki inferred when relayed those instructions.

But Hiruzen knew better, oh he knew very well his student always dealt in absolutes: either you had to complete every task assigned or you didn't, there was no ifs and buts about it. And upon Hiruzen's thinking about whatever motives or reasons that made Naruto such an interest that Orochimaru would reveal his hand this early into the 'game', it soon started to come together, and he didn't like it one bit.

Really, it didn't take a genius, or really it was just anyone who wasn't blinded in their biases towards the boy, to get an idea of whatever the snake might be planning. Orochimaru had not just raised Naruto from day 1 because he had been ordered to, until his departure from the village the former Sannin had genuinely cared for the blonde-haired Jinchuuriki, some might even say that Anko and Naruto were seen as the children Orochimaru had always wanted. _'It is to be expected', _Hiruzen thought, _'Anyone would grow on Naruto, if they manage to see past his status as a Jinchuuriki and attempt to get to know the boy.'_

The suddenness of Orochimaru's movements were made only more startling with the approaching Chunin Exams that Konoha would soon be hosting. _'And to think, not too long ago the Chunin Exams was where my student's descent into darkness originally started…', _was Hiruzen's immediate thought.

The thoughts of Orochimaru soon followed one after another, what he had been like when he was became a part of Team Sarutobi along with Jiraiya and Tsunade, how he had grown and risen into the role of the legendary Snake of the Densetsu no Sannin, how he had seen Orochimaru become a good enough father to properly teach and raise his apprentice Mitarashi Anko and later Naruto, and ultimately how he finally turned on Konoha and abandoned his oath to serve Konoha for life. The rollercoaster of memories soon became too much to bear, and Hiruzen found himself lost in a wave of nostalgia and memories.

The Chunin Exams, the one time that ninjas and the Kages from the many Hidden Village's could meet and interact without being pressured to fight in a life-or-death battle resulting from their village's rivalries. The only period in time where a village could see foreign ninja come through their gates and not have them be invaders, a time where security was lax and a sacred tradition of temporary neutrality was in effect. The thought of the Chunin Exams, and the sudden realization of how they related to his fallen student, brought Hiruzen into a trance and he reminisced the tragic tale or Orochimaru.

The Chunin Exams, a time of peace, sportsmanship, friendship, something that Orochimaru had never liked from the get-go, for some reason he always found it a very disturbing issue. Even before he joined Team Sarutobi as a Genin, the former Snake Sannin made his issue and standpoint with the temporary neutrality between the villages during the Chunin Exams perfectly clear. The distaste for the Chunin Exam's neutrality became a living bane in the Sannin's life, following the death of his parents, and Orochimaru was forced to watch as the ninja from the Hidden Grass, the village whose Shinobi were responsible for killing his parents, participate in the Exams that Orochimaru loathed.

Orochimaru later learned that the particular individual responsible for killing his parents, an exceptionally powerful Kusa Genin named Fujiwara no Yasuhira, the heir of Kusa's powerful Fujiwara clan. At that time, Yasuhira was being groomed to become the Sandaime Kusakage, and whose grandfather and father were the Shodaime and Niidaime Kusakage respectively - and to show off Kusa's power became a participant in the Chunin Exams. Upon hearing this news, Orochimaru had become adamant about having their team take part in the Chunin Exams as well, his motives for wanting to do something so rash obvious to even the somewhat dense teammate of Orochimaru, Jiraiya.

When thinking about the mistakes that he made that prompted Orochimaru to grow up and betray Konoha, Hiruzen realized now that his refusal to allow them (and ergo Orochimaru) to participate - on the fact that they had only recently graduated as Genin, was in fact one of the worst mistakes he could have made. Had he allowed them to enter, seeing as the Chunin Exams had been relatively safer back then as compared to now, Orochimaru might have been able to face and defeat Yasuhira - settling his need for vengeance - without resorting to having to kill him.

Immediately after his refusal to allow his team to participate, Orochimaru slowly began to change, growing slowly more darker and malicious, which he and his other two students simply attributed to just being a spoiled brat that didn't have his way. Orochimaru's loathing of Yasuhira turned to abhorring of his immediate family, then his clan, then all Kusagakure ninja.

Kusagakure's fall to a minor village in strength, when originally it had been equal in standing with Konoha and the other major villages, could be attributed almost entirely to Orochimaru… and his extermination of the Fujiwara clan. The Fujiwara Clan was the backbone of Kusagakure, as while their other ninja were exceptional nonetheless, the members of the Fujiwara in particular could contend with some of the most powerful clans like the Uchiha and Kaguya clans, and had already produced two Kage-level Shinobi and one future Kage-level Shinobi.

While the Fujiwara Clan's extermination had been immensely beneficial to Konoha and was a key factor in Konoha's victory in the Second Great Ninja War, Orochimaru had never even given Konoha thought when fighting the Kusa ninja and their recently appointed Sandaime Kusakage: Fujiwara no Yasuhira. While Jiraiya coordinated their ninja forces in their campaign against Iwa, and Tsunade had been appointed command over the Leaf forces against the recently formed Hidden Village of the Land of the Sky, Orochimaru had been assigned - with no small amount of elation mind you - with focusing Konoha's efforts in fighting the ninja of the Hidden Grass.

The absolute perfect opportunity for his revenge came, as Orochimaru justified the priority of taking out the members of the Fujiwara seeing as they presented the greatest threat to the Kusa-front ninja of Konoha, and slowly but surely Orochimaru weeded out the Fujiwara, eventually earning the ire of the old Shodaime Kusakage, Fujiwara no Motohira, whom at 65 years of age saw Orochimaru as nothing more than a childish brat whom relied on cunning and underhanded cheap tactics to win. Challenging the future Snake Sannin to a one on one battle Motohira emerged onto the battlefield in the first time after 20 years… only to face the power of the Ultrasaurus that Orochimaru piloted and had kept secret from the Kusa forces for such an occasion as that, and it remained a secret as Motohira did not survive to tell of it.

The fact that Orochimaru managed to not only survive against, but actually beat and kill a Kage - even if the Kage had been well past his prime - had been a turning point in the war, and with it the focus of the efforts of a retribution-seeking Yasuhira from the Konoha forces to solely Orochimaru. More of the Fujiwara challenged and fell to Orochimaru's subordinate ninja using horrifically effective battle tactics that preyed on the Fujiwara's weaknesses and flaws, while at the same time ensuring that no evidence existed on how they fought their battles and silencing any witnesses through whatever means necessary.

And in their attempts to avenge those fellow clan members, even more Fujiwara were prompted into attacking, only to receive the same result, creating a vicious cycle of death that essentially cut Kusa's forces to a mere handful. The father of Yasuhira, Fujiwara no Hidehira and former Niidaime Kusakage set out with the rest of his clansmen to do what his father could not, only to suffer the same fate as Motohira, and his fellow clansmen immediately followed them down to the grave after Hidehira fell.

As the last of the Fujiwara fell to the fangs of Orochimaru and his flawless plans, it finally drew out the one individual that the snake had been waiting years to meet and take on face to face: Fujiwara no Yasuhira, Sandaime Kusakage, last surviving member of the once mighty Fujiwara clan, and the one responsible for the death of Orochimaru's parents.

The battle between the two titans itself was described - according to the records of the witnesses whom survived to talk about it - to be less of a fight between ninja, and more of a glimpse of Armageddon. The Seismosaurus of Yasuhira and the Ultrasaurus of Orochimaru continued to trade fire, the intensity of the battle so great that the landscape itself was being reformed by their struggle for dominance. By the battle's end, the lush greenery of the plains that served the battlefield had become a barren wasteland devoid of any signs of life, and to this very day it remained in the exact same state, a monument to how far gone the hatred of a human being can go.

By the time Orochimaru and his remaining forces rendezvoused with those of Jiraiya's and Tsunade's for their offensive against Ame and Salamander Hanzo, Kusa had suffered a loss of power dwarfing than of even Iwa against the Yondaime Hokage in the following Third Great Ninja War, and to this very day still remained a minor country in power.

The response given to Orochimaru when he returned alongside his teammates and fellow Konoha nins from their successful campaign in the war, was yet another critical point leading up to his eventual fall from grace. While the exploits of Jiraiya and Tsunade were celebrated and they treated in similar fashion to the Sandaime Hokage - Hiruzen himself - Orochimaru, on the other hand, was ostracized when he should have received just as much if not more recognition.

Apparently, the many clans of Konoha learned of Orochimaru's extermination of the clan from Kusa that cost him his parents, and regardless of how justified or beneficial it was to their own or Konoha's power, they perceived anyone whom was capable of targeting and wiping out a clan as a serious hazard, and it is well known by everyone that common sense is completely absent when a clan believes itself in danger.

In addition, a few clans felt upset that a clan-less ninja like Orochimaru, whom had no kekkei genkai or clan jutsu to speak of, could gain recognition to be seen as one of Konoha's most important assets, an saw him as a threat to their established power base. Of course, they didn't act in the same regard with Orochimaru as with Tsunade and Jiraiya, as Tsunade was well known for being a Senju and the granddaughter of the Shodaime Hokage himself, and Jiraiya was - at the time - the only known surviving member of the enigmatic but powerful Namikaze clan.

So when Hiruzen had attempted to step down and hand the position of Yondaime Hokage to Orochimaru, the clans of Konoha used every single bit of power and connections they had to postpone that decision, even writing to the Fire Daimyo himself that Orochimaru 'while strong, did not possess all the qualities and traits that a Hokage should have at the present time, and needs time to sufficiently meet those requirements.' In other words, Orochimaru could not become Hokage, because he was not part of nor married into one of Konoha's prestigious clans.

The exact same fate befell Danzo when he was in the running for the position of Sandaime Hokage, as Hiruzen not only had the teaching of the previous two Hokages but also had the background of being a member of the Sarutobi clan, and because Danzo was not part of any he never would have qualified, regardless of Hiruzen's teaching background. Luckily for Konoha, Danzo was not one to hold grudges… at least to the same intensity as Orochimaru, and was actually quite friendly with Hiruzen - but covered it up with his 'old war hawk' demeanor.

Even then and still now, Danzo was still bitter over the biased selection of Hokage, and had been the one to offer his condolences to Orochimaru when his nomination was postponed. It saddened Hiruzen that he could not be the one to do so for his favorite pupil, but because he was responsible for dealing with the reparations of their victory, redefining the territorial boundaries, and regulating the post-war recovery, he could only thank Danzo for being the shoulder to support Orochimaru's deflation at being denied the Yondaime position and his unfair treatment by the ignorant villagers, whom foolishly listened and believed to the crackpot stories made up by the clans about Orochimaru.

The penultimate mistake, Sarutobi believed that he made with his student, was allowing the decision for Namikaze Minato to be chosen over Orochimaru as the Yondaime Hokage. In hindsight, it wasn't the smartest decision Hiruzen had ever made, as back then Orochimaru had slowly been losing faith in Konoha as a whole, and Minato's loyalty to Konoha was unquestionable and set in stone, and had Orochimaru been given the position he might have had his 'will of fire' reignited, and in addition to that Hiruzen couldn't have imagined Minato going nuke-nin because of that.

On that subject, Minato _was_ a bit naive and bullheaded, at least when it came to making the smart and not the right decisions, and he was an idealist greater than even Sarutobi himself, believing that everyone he put his faith into would follow through, and really it was his simple unique charisma and upbeat optimism, as well as his solo landslide victories in the Third Great Ninja War, that really had it going for him. In contrast, Orochimaru was rather skeptical and flexible (not just physically, but in opinion as well), a true realist whom knew the darker side of things like war (having been part of two and having lost many people to both), knowing exactly when and where people would keep their word, and had been groomed by Sarutobi to be ready to take the position.

Sure, they were both geniuses, albeit with their own different kind of genius, but they were both very different kind of leaders when taken into perspective. The best example that described this difference would be comparing their mottos in regards to the death of a comrade within the midst of battle: Orochimaru's motto being, _"Forget __now__, mourn __later__.", _and Minato's was, "_Fight __**harder**_."

Orochimaru was the textbook definition of a Shinobi, a tool that acted in the interests and service of their Hidden Village and Hokage, and left his emotions and feelings towards his missions back home. The only reason Orochimaru allowed himself to get carried away in exacting vengeance against the Sandaime Kusakage and the Hidden Grass during the Second Great Ninja War, was because his part in the war and his revenge coincided perfectly.

If killing off the Fujiwara clan members had not been the most effective way or crippling Kusa from continuing in the war, Orochimaru would have done so regardless of his personal feelings. This Hiruzen was absolutely assured of, because Orochimaru didn't truly realize it until he returned home to Konoha, that he had exacted his long-desired vengeance upon Yasuhira.

Minato, on the other hand, was a powerful warrior and assassin but a rather pathetic ninja, according to the textbook. Yes, Minato could do the job of a ninja just as well if not better than Orochimaru, but he allowed his personal feelings and emotions to affect himself while doing so. If you did something that Minato considered a transgression towards himself, he would forget his duties and focus himself entirely on taking you down.

During the Third Great Ninja War, Minato would often deal in absolutes: either he would let everyone on the opposing side live if they surrendered, or he would ruthlessly slaughter each and every single being working under the opposing banner, regardless of whether or not you posed enough of a threat to kill a Kage or a fly. In either case, it didn't matter if you had or had not deserved such response from Minato, or if it was the smartest thing to do, Minato's emotions tended to make that decision for him.

But when the decision came up to choose between Orochimaru and Minato, even though the council had no say in whom he chose to succeed him, Hiruzen allowed himself to believe in the same excuse the council had earlier supplemented to the Fire Daimyo, that Orochimaru didn't have the traits of a person willing to sacrifice himself for Konoha. Minato had friends, he was at the time dating Uzumaki Kushina, and would sell his soul to save a complete stranger, whereas Orochimaru was a loner, had never had any significant others, and always methodically weighed the benefits and risks of every sacrifice he made, and Hiruzen - being so tired of war - wanted someone whom everyone believed would establish a Golden Age for Konoha.

The end result: Minato became Hokage, Orochimaru was left to rot, Naruto was conceived and born, the Kyuubi attacked, Minato gave his life to turn it into an Organoid and bound it to Naruto, Kushina died in childbirth, and the village was left in the hands of an old weary man whom was expected to share the same blind faith that Minato had in the people of Konoha, the same people whom had just experienced the same loss and pain that came with result of war, but without having the mental preparation and expectations of such that came with the onset of war.

Maybe it was because the village had just lost it's Yondaime so soon into his reign, maybe it was burden of having to once again take the mantle of Sandaime, maybe he had finally gone senile, but Hiruzen had made his final mistake in allowing Naruto, even under the care of Orochimaru, to suffer the fate of the pariah, the Jinchuuriki of Konoha, that made Orochimaru leave the village.

Bitter enough from the wrongs made against him in his long life, Orochimaru most likely caved upon witnessing the villager's treatment of his surrogate son, and by association himself and his apprentice and surrogate daughter, Anko. It all became too much for the once noble ninja, and he finally cut his ties with the village and left it after being chased and questioned by him and then later Jiraiya.

To end off the chain of memories, Hiruzen recalled the last thing said to him by Orochimaru, before he left him and the village: _"This is the last time I will walk in this village as a Konoha ninja, Sarutobi-sensei… but this won't be the last time you see of me, kukuku. I will claim that which I left behind and which is rightfully mine, and then and only then, will I raze this ungrateful and corrupt village to the ground!" _

Hiruzen had taken Orochimaru's threat with no less seriousness he would one made by the Tsuchikage or the Raikage, and had taken steps to get a lead on the snake's plans, having Jiraiya track Orochimaru's movements and updated his security for several 'hot spots' that were things that Orochimaru became involved with… but it seemed, at this moment, he was missing a part of the snake's motives. After all, Orochimaru's actions seemed to suggest he saw Naruto as something other than a possible threat….

And then it hit him, like one of his former student's superhuman punches, and then he figuratively punched himself for not anticipating such a possible scenario, only made worse by realizing just how bad this made things. It was a stupid idea to believe for even one second, to see Orochimaru as just another typical missing-nin that sought to end Konoha, as there had been many others - albeit not very often - in the past, to even think that Orochimaru had abandoned his feelings for everyone that lived in this village when he left was a mistake worthy of Minato!

Back then, going on the words of the foreboding message, Hiruzen's instincts told him that whatever Orochimaru wanted to get back from Konoha would be somewhere on his private Zoid ranch, which he, Anko, and Naruto had lived on. Wanting to get the two young ones in a secure place free from any traces of their former caretaker, Hiruzen had them removed from the ranch, with Anko placed in the Anbu HQ, seeing as she had expressed interest in joining them long before Orochimaru left.

On the other hand, Naruto was placed directly under the care of Uchiha Itachi, as he figured taking care of the blonde would allow Itachi to experience something beyond his duties as an Anbu under his command and the heir of the Uchiha Clan, and thus prevent Itachi from becoming a total machine like the Zoid he piloted.

And when Hiruzen had Orochimaru's ranch thoroughly searched, all that turned up was some spare Zoid parts, a sizable portion of the money made from the Snake Sannin's ninja career - surprisingly left in the name of Naruto and Anko, proving he had been preparing to do this for quite some time - and, most puzzling of all, two stuffed animals that Orochimaru had instructed Hiruzen himself to give to Naruto and Anko, which he had surprisingly fulfilled seeing it was the 'last request' of his pupil as a Konoha ninja.

The lack of any commercial trademark or logo on the dolls seemed to suggest Orochimaru had them commissioned them to be hand-made, and after having them checked and scanned for anything dangerous and finally deemed just two ordinary -if not expensive - dolls, Hiruzen had given them to Naruto and Anko.

Naruto's doll was none other than a miniature of an infamous Zoid, the Nine-Tailed Fox Bijuu itself, for whom Naruto had held - unsurprisingly to Hiruzen - an inexplicable fascination with, and for Anko the doll given was the miniature of the Ultrasaurus that Orochimaru himself piloted, a Zoid that Anko enjoyed riding with her surrogate little brother Naruto when Orochimaru was in Konoha.

Both dolls had with them, a copy of a picture of them with Orochimaru taken a month before his becoming a missing-nin, the back of which Orochimaru had only written two words: _**"I'm sorry."**_ This seemingly innocent message that at first glance conveyed the ex-Sannin's reluctance to do what he did, for Hiruzen, however, at this very moment it meant something entirely different: _**"I'm sorry, but I'll be back for you, just you wait."**_

It all made perfect sense, and he had only now just realized he had been played for a fool by his student, and just how bad it meant things would soon go for Konoha. The private ranch itself, which he had regularly guarded and locked, held nothing of value to Orochimaru, and in his haste to unravel the plans of his student Hiruzen had never bothered to believe even for a second, that it might be the **people **that lived **on**the ranch that concerned Orochimaru and not any part of the ranch itself.

Orochimaru had nothing of precious value here in Konoha, but that didn't mean Orochimaru didn't have any_one_ precious to him in Konoha, and besides Tsunade and Jiraiya, both of whom were wandering nin before Orochimaru's departure, and himself, which spoke for itself, the only people that had any significance to Orochimaru in his life were his adoptive daughter and son.

It was made only worse for Hiruzen that said adoptive daughter and son still missed their adoptive father, although both dealt with it in a different way. Anko adopted a façade that made her outgoing and promiscuous and bearing a hatred for the Snake Sannin, while Naruto seemed to all together forget anything about Orochimaru, claiming that he was raised with Anko by a maid assigned by Hiruzen, would rather give up ramen than live with him, and sometimes even refused to believe Orochimaru even existed, which could be nothing further from the truth.

Anko was actually scared around anyone that wasn't Hiruzen, Naruto, or her Anbu squad-mate Tengu, everyone else she acted the 'psycho-bitch' towards. She was in reality, still a virgin and unlike her actions or clothing might often suggest, detested any pervert… that wasn't Tengu, him being the sole exception because he never directed his perverted mannerisms towards her, that and Anko secretly held feelings for her subordinate but didn't act on them, because Tengu's his own feelings for his fellow Anbu, Uzuki Yuugao.

Naruto on the other hand, remembered things as far back as when he was six months old like it was yesterday, every time Naruto denied knowing Orochimaru in his presence the sudden urge to call **"Bullshit!"** rose up within Hiruzen, as Naruto would never forget something as important as the people that raised him. The claim about giving up ramen was true - he would give up ramen for life - if he had the chance to live with Orochimaru once more.

And both Anko and Naruto's attitudes towards the Sannin - Anko's hate and Naruto's denial - were nothing more than masks that hid how much they really missed their 'tou-san.' The only reason they even stomached pretending was because Konoha would have sought to have them persecuted, even executed if they got out of hand, if they had shown any form of support or sympathy for Konoha's ex-Sannin.

Getting back to the here and now, Hiruzen realized just how dangerous things potentially had become and just how disastrous things might have become had Naruto not decided to leave. Were Naruto to have done as he had originally planned - meeting with Mizuki and getting a field promotion to Genin for beating a Chunin and a traitor - and then… placed onto Team 7, seeing as it was the only team with an open spot to place an additional unscheduled Genin-graduate on.

That would have paired him with Jonin-sensei Hatake Kakashi, a man with connections to Naruto whom lived in the past and was second to only Maito Gai in being the Jonin with the most bizarre of quirks, and his fellow-to-be academy graduates Haruno Sakura, the girl Naruto had doted on for years now whom didn't even know he was a Jinchuuriki and yet still treated him like trash, and Uchiha Sasuke, the former best friend of Naruto - until Itachi's betrayal - and bitter rival during their generation's time at the academy.

During that time, Anko would have been told to be given a medical leave from Anbu on his orders, seeing as he believed she need time to rest and relax, his excuse to the councilors at the last-week council meeting being he wanted her to proctor for the upcoming Chunin Exams that Konoha would be hosting, which they begrudgingly accepted, but that had been at the whim that the Uchiha Clan's last surviving heir loyal to Konoha - Sasuke for those with lower brain functions - would be entered into the Exams.

The Chunin Exams, the time where all the villages could enter and not be questioned and interrogated, a time perfect for Orochimaru to somehow sneak in and 'appropriate' his forgotten luggage: his daughter and son, Anko and Naruto. Knowing their more than crappy life in Konoha, and their yearning to be together with their father, they wouldn't even give the opportunity to leave and join him a second's thought when approached by him.

And now, with Naruto gone, Anko would have nobody other than her partner Tengu, to keep her anchored to Konoha, and one teammate whom might not return her feelings for him was not enough to keep Anko here. Whether he liked it or not, Anko would not be here in Konoha for long, she would escape the first chance she could to be with her little brother and possibly their father, and if Hiruzen were to try and detain her in any way, it might give both Orochimaru and Naruto the needed excuse to return to Konoha for revenge _when_, not if, _when_ they were to find out.

Knowing that in his heart he wouldn't be able to live bearing the thought he had to have Naruto put down like a dog, seeing as he was the one at fault for allowing Naruto's life to be as horrible as it was, Hiruzen thought of the best way to allow Anko to be with Naruto, protect both of them from potential assassins hired by the council, keep Orochimaru's sights off of Konoha and focused on his adoptive children, and all the while ensure that both would be happy enough so that they didn't seek the need to exact vengeance from Konoha.

And then an idea to meet all the criteria came to Hiruzen, one was very risky, extremely costly, possibly bat-shit loco, but potentially it was the most rewarding for all parties if it was followed through. Each second that he went over it in his mind, the more it appealed to the aged Sandaime, and he found himself actually able to grin at the sheer tenacity that he would show he still possessed by using this plan. The finality and determination in the Sandaime's voice and eyes sent chills down the spine of the Anbu that came at Hiruzen's signal and message, "Ryuu, I want Shishi and Tengu in here as soon as possible, tell them to be ready for an SS-class mission that could span the next few years!"

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

Somewhere in the neutral country that existed between Fire Country and Lightning Country, the Des Genosaurer was hidden in a cave large enough to hide it, but small enough not to warrant much attention, and also it provided a place that would make it undetectable on radar from any Zoids searching for it and it's pilot and Organoid. Inside of the cave and near the Des Genosaurer, the fox Organoid Kyu was prowling back and forth around the cave entrance, as if on the alert for someone nearby, despite the Des Genosaurer's own radar not detecting any Zoids within the vicinity.

Inside the cockpit of the Des Genosaurer, Naruto was taking a much needed breather, as he had unknowingly performed his first successful Bio-Gattai, and while he wasn't exhausted or tired by any means, he was still a bit strained; which is perfectly understandable, after all Naruto had never been able to successfully Bio-Gattai with any Zoid until now, and thus was unprepared for the taxation it brought onto one's body.

Later on in Naruto's hurry to escape the boundary that marked off him being in Fire Country, Naruto discovered that his vision had suddenly warped and sharpened to a clarity that frightened him, and upon stopping to look into a lake and see what was wrong, he nearly chocked upon seeing his own reflection.

Naruto's eyes were no longer his eyes, they had been replaced by a bizarre arrangement of silvery-purple concentric circles that resembled the ripples of the water when he dropped a rock into the lake. Feeling that he was subconsciously sending chakra to his eyes, Naruto somehow cut off the excess chakra going there and watched as the normal shape of his eyes returned. But had discovered that even after his eyes had changed back to normal, his eye color had permanently changed, as they were no longer their captivating ocean blue, they now took on a metallic silver that resembled a crystalline mirror in some form.

Not knowing what to make of his eyes, other than they changed to and from the strange patter of silvery-purple circles when he applied and cut off chakra from his eyes, Naruto turned his attention to doing some research into his newfound Zoid. Upon finding a surprisingly large and extensive library when simply searching for some data files in the Des Genosaurer's external hard drive, Naruto had learned a lot more about the Zoid he owned, as well as a lot of the capabilities of the Zoid class in it's entirety.

First, Naruto learned about the Geno and Fuhrer-type Zoid class as a whole, wanting to learn about the Zoids that he and his deceased parent's piloted. In the data files, it stated that Geno and Fuhrer-type Zoids were all Tyrannosaurus-type Zoids, whom were exceedingly rare nowadays due to their unreal destructive capabilities. Upon further investigation, Naruto learned that all Geno and Fuhrer-type Zoids were recognized by their signature weapon, the Charged Particle Cannon.

The Charged Particle Cannon was a weapon of such incredible destructive potential that even to this day there was no weapon, shield, or armor that could effectively defend against a full-powered Charged Particle Cannon blast, even the strongest energy shields and armor only held it off for sparse moments. The Charged Particle Cannons made the Geno and Fuhrer-Zoid type class feared, it was no wonder the Yondaime Hokage was able to make short work of entire platoons of Iwa ninja in the Third Great Ninja War, and thus earned the flee-on-sight order when he came to battle.

It is for this reason, that Geno and Fuhrer-type Zoids were more rare than ninjas at or above Kage-level, and to find even two users who each piloted one such Zoid was even rarer to the point of being improbable, it was by pure luck that Konoha had both the Yondaime and Uzumaki Kushina with their Zoids in their time.

'_No wonder Hokage-jiji wanted me kept away from this, he probably thought I'd use Des Genosaurer to lay waste to Konoha for their treatment of me, and for good reason as I'd probably have done just that.'_, came to mind when Naruto wondered why the Sandaime had kept such an important part of his life from him. '_Then again, he had intended on keeping Kyu's origins and my parent's true identities a secret for who knows how long, possibly never even planning on such for all I know…'_

Looking into information on the Des Genosaurer, Naruto found even more info than he had seen on the profile plaque that stood besides the Des Genosaurer in it's nightmarish prison of frozen water.

**Zoid-Type Base Model:**_Genosaurer_

**Model Designation:**_**Des Genosaurer**_

**Model Variations:**_The Des Genosaurer's seems to have replaced most of the normal Genosaurer's fixed weapons to fit in the special weapons it seems to have inherited._

_**Missing: **__Laser Gun__, __Long Range Pulse Laser Rifle__ (2)_

**Model Variations:**_The Des Genosaurer seems to have inherited it's own fixed weapons and equipment from various evolution stages of it's parent Zoids._

_**Genobreaker**_- _Laser Charging Blade__, __Weapon Binders__ {__AZ 140mm Shock Gun __80mm Beam Gun __Micro Poison Missile Pod__} (2), __X-Breaker_**[Genobreaker] **_(2), __Particle Converter_

_**Strum Fuhrer/Tyrann**_- _X-Breaker_**[Strum Fuhrer] **_(2), __Charged Particle Generator__ (3), __Vernier Thruster__ (4), __Ion Booster Pack__, __High Maneuver Thruster__ (2), __Anchors__ (4)_

"Oh, so that's why you don't look exactly like the Genosaurer shown in the data files, you're a special variety of Genosaurer, aren't you?", was Naruto's directed question to the Zoid he was in, the affirmative growl that held a bit of pride being the response given to the blonde Jinchuuriki by the Zoid.

In addition to it's more advanced weapons, the Des Genosaurer was also colored differently from the normal variety of Genosaurer: whereas the normal Genosaurer was a dark-violet with lavender or brick red paneling, the Des Genosaurer was a pure black with blood red paneling, coupled with orange and golden runic markings that adorned the Des Genosaurer and it's X-Breakers.

Looking up further information on the Des Genosaurer, specifically what it said about the proficiency of it's Charged Particle Cannon, if it could even use it. What turned up more than surprised the silver-eyed blonde Jinchuuriki, and nearly caused him to hyperventilate.

**Fixed Weapon Enhancement:**_The Des Genosaurer's only notable enhancement of a retained fixed weapon from the original Genosaurer model is it's Charged Particle Cannon. The Des Genosaurer's possesses one of the (in not the most) powerful Charged Particle Cannons known to mankind: the Super Shift Charged Particle Cannon. The Super Shift Charged Particle Cannon is essentially the amalgamation of the Shift Charged Particle Cannon and the Super Charged Particle Cannon:_

**Shift Charged Particle Cannon: **_A Charged Particle Cannon capable of changing to one of three settings: Normal, Focused, and Diffused. While most Charged Particle Cannons models are only capable of firing in either one of the three settings, the Shift Charged Particle Cannon allows for interchangeable firing in any of the three settings, thus allowing for increased adaptability._

**Super Charged Particle Cannon: **_A Charged Particle Cannon that is capable of overlaying a secondary particle charge on top of a primary particle charge, which in other words means it can charge twice the amount of particles in a charging sequence, ergo double the destructive power in a single Charge Particle Cannon shot. Of course, this also means it requires more time and energy to charge, and produces a far more powerful backlash when fired, so caution and sparing use is advised for best effect._

"HOLY SHIT!", was the immediate reaction that Naruto gave, the normal Charged Particle Cannon alone was force of reckoning, and the file that he just read basically said they had managed to take a weapon that could turn even the mightiest of Zoids into oblivion, and _**improved it**_?! 'That's like… taking ramen, and sticking small portions of ramen on top of that ramen, which could very well destroy the space-time continuum, return me back the instant I added the ramen to end up with the same result, creating an infinite time loop!'

'_On that thought, I have to find more food and supplies soon, I only brought enough with me to last a week. But I'll deal with that later, before that I have to find out how my Zoid would be able to handle using such an insanely powerful weapon! A normal Charged Particle Cannon is already a double-edged sword, having a more powerful version should in all respects tear my Zoid to bits!' _Looking to answer that question, Naruto did some serious investigation, and turned up with something very interesting.

**Additional Equipment**: _Inertia System_

**Inertia System: **_A computer/machine network, designed to work and assist Geno and Fuhrer-type Zoids, that is composed of a combination of sensors, repulsors, and bracers that exist throughout the outfitted Zoid's armor, weapons, and even the Zoid Chassis itself._

_The Inertia System grants whatever Zoid it is integrated into, a heavily improved resistance to forces that would normally send the Zoid flying off it's feet. The Inertia System's benefits are most notable upon observing the Geno/Fuhrer-type Zoid's broadened utilization of it's own Charged Particle Cannon, as with the Inertia System (or IS) integrated into the Zoid, several issues of using the powerful weapon have now been corrected._

_The Zoid bearing the Inertia System is now capable of firing blasts from it's Charged Particle Cannon without having to either: brace and ground itself using any Anchors/activating any Flight Packs to fly, in order to cancel out the incredible backlash produced by unleashing the Charged Particle Cannon._

_In addition, with the Inertia System added to the Geno/Fuhrer-type Zoid, not only is the Zoid able to avoid limiting it's mobility and defensive capabilities, the Inertia System allows the IS-integrated Zoid to maneuver and twist it's head and body when firing, thus widening the range of it's own Charged Particle Cannon, allowing the IS-integrated Zoid the ability to replicate the same deadly sweeping effect as the Deathsaurer's own Charged Particle Cannon._

"Wow, that's a relief, the last thing I wanted was a weapon that would end up blowing myself up before I got to do the same to my enemies. Wait a minute, there's a warning added to this… oh great, and I thought I was off the hook in worrying about the Des Genosaurer's Super Shift Charged Particle Cannon…", was the reluctant comment from the blonde as he observed the additional note added to the file on the Inertia System.

_**WARNING!**_** = The Inertia System will **_**not**_** grant a reprieve from the backlash of every type of Charged Particle Cannon!!!**

_The mobility and cannon-range benefits of IS-integrated Geno/Fuhrer-Type Zoids were unintended side-effects of the use of the Inertia System in normal IS-compatible Zoids, it was not the original intended purpose of the Inertia System, and thus it wasn't made a priority in consideration until much later after the development of the Inertia System._

_The Inertia System was initially developed: not to increase the mobility of Geno/Fuhrer-type Zoids, but instead to negate the main problem that came from using more powerful Charged Particle Cannons variations in particular Geno/Fuhrer-type Zoid models, a dilemma that dates back from the very beginning of the Geno/Fuhrer-type Zoid's conception and has continued to plague it throughout the history of the Zoid's model series._

_The Geno/Fuhrer Zoid model was originally a design to make a smaller-scale version of the Deathsaurer that could be more readily and easily produced. Seeing the significantly lesser power of the Geno/Fuhrer-type Zoid's Charged Particle Cannons in comparison to that of the Deathsaurer's original Charged Particle Cannon, it has always been the primary goal of the Geno/Fuhrer-type Zoid series: to create one such Zoid that was able to use a Charged Particle Cannon of an equal or greater magnitude than a Deathsaurer's own._

_With this in mind, certain experimental or special Geno/Fuhrer-type Zoid models have been altered to include an amplified Charged Particle Cannons, like the Des Genosaurer with it's Super Shift Charged Particle Cannon, which just so happens to be an extremely powerful and one of the most destructive and intense variations of Charged Particle Cannons, or at least compared to most other Charged Particle Cannons variations of past and present Geno/Fuhrer Zoids._

_The greatest issue with such particular Zoids like these, and why they weren't readily seen and used in or out of battle is because each and every single one of these Zoids possessed one extremely great flaw: their enhanced Charged Particle Cannon's produced such unreal backlashes that the Zoids using them would be sent reeling as a result, regardless of utilization of the anchors/engaging of the flight packs._

_Due to the danger presented by such a Zoid toppling and yet still firing it's Charged Particle Cannon in mid-tumble (which would undoubtedly wreak randomly-ordained havoc all around the Zoid which could potentially threaten unprepared allies as well as enemies), the Charged Particle Cannons of these Zoids were unsafe to utilize by any means and essentially forbidden from usage._

_Originally, these Zoids were intended to be upgraded with things like heavier chassis, thicker and less maneuverable armor, or more anchors/flight thrusters, however this was ultimately decided with the development of the Inertia System._

_By integrating the Inertia System, these Zoid's now possessed the best solution for their unsafe backlash issue, and it was the most efficient and least detrimental alternative, at least compared to any of the before-mentioned additions, as well as simply forgoing the possible addition of any powerful enhancements to these Zoid's Charged Particle Cannons._

_With this said, only I.S.-integrated Geno/Fuhrer-type Zoids without enhanced Charged Particle Cannon's are able to maximize the mobility and cannon-range benefits of the Inertia System. Attempting to replicate these effects with a I.S. integrated Geno/Fuhrer-type Zoid in possession of an enhanced Charged Particle Cannon is dangerous and possibly even fatal to both the Zoid and it's pilot!_

'_Oh that's nice, make me feel even more reluctant to use, well that settles it, until I get a better estimation of the Des Genosaurer's combat capabilities, I'll have to avoid resorting to the Super Shift Charged Particle… it sucks that there's nobody who could teach me how to use it, but or course Genosaurers are a dime a dozen!', _but unknown to Naruto, Fate was on standby to make up for Naruto's crappy life, and she was about to throw him his pass… now it was up to him to decide if he wanted to stay or run with it.

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

'Today is just not my day…', were the thoughts of one Nii Yugito as she pushed the Zoid she was riding to it's limits in trying to escape her pursuers, which she was unfortunately unsuccessful in accomplishing, but what did you expect when you were piloting a Geno Hydra and your seven pursuers were manning Lightning Saix?

If you had told her today, she were to overhear from the dumb council members of Kumo that the Jinchuuriki in the villages of Suna and Taki had abandoned their villages, and she was going to be detained and then psychologically conditioned until she became nothing more than a weapon to kill for Kumo and for their male Shinobi to fuck, and then that she would turn tail and bail out herself, she would have thought you out of your friggin mind.

And yet here she was, doing just that, and now she was being flagged down by the Cloud Anbu detached to either capture or kill her, and she knew what they would do when they caught her. They would strap her down and take their turns fucking with her, until she was nothing more than a cum-bucket whore, and then they would bring her back to Kumo to be 'reconditioned'.

It was only by the protection of the Raikage and the threats - and dismemberments - that Kirabii dished out, that Yugito had rarely been beaten and was still thankfully a virgin, but her life was still not much to brag about. But thinking back on it, considering how it was for female Jinchuuriki in the past, she was more than grateful for how she turned out, so knowing how her life was then compared to how it could have turned out much worse ,Yugito was able to stand the harsh life. After all, Kunoichi had it much worse than Shinobi did if they lost and survived, usually Kunoichi were captured, raped, and sold whereas Shinobi were tortured, interrogated, and killed.

So it seemed that her luck was about to run out, and she was going to suffer the horrors that often kept many a Kunoichi from accepting any offers to advance past the rank of Chunin. Yugito's chakra (even though she was a Jinchuuriki) had it's limits, and hers was quickly approaching as she tried to pull ahead desperately past her pursuers. And then her Geno Hydra unfortunately came to a dead end at a ledge, and Yugito knew her Zoid did not possess much capability in aquatic environments, even if she were to able to swim to a nearby island she would be stranded, and then Kumo could just come out in a Whale King and then it would be the end for her.

The lead Kumo Anbu, the captain himself with the improved version known as the Lightning Saix BS, made two steps forward before stating in the local communication system frequency, "Give up Nii, we can all your Zoid has spent most of it's energy stores, your chakra is running on empty, and your Organoid has already fused with your Zoid three times today, you have no aces left to pull out. Now be a good little Jinchuuriki slut, and come with us… and maybe, just maybe… we'll let you off with just giving us all blowjobs."

The growls from her two-tailed Organoid cat, Nii, only slightly invigorated her spirit, as she knew the bastard was lying through his teeth. And despite her desire to fight to the death, she knew that _was _ultimately what she could accomplish at best, as even a Charged Particle Cannon assault on the Zoids from her position would end up having her sail off the ledge, and without power or chakra she would fall to her death. The only way she could get out of this was if a miracle were to happen…

So it was a frightening surprise when at barrage of shots from an undisclosed weapon came from out of nowhere and pummeled into two of the Kumo Anbu's Lightning Saix, leaving their's left or right limbs damaged and lame, essentially cutting off their ability to dash and accelerate at high speeds. The attention of the Anbu, and Yugito turned towards the newcomer, and each were shocked beyond comparison at the arrival of a black Genosaurer, or at least it had the base model of a Genosaurer, the Kumo Anbu knew those large and small pairs of X-Breakers were not a normal weapon used by Genosaurers.

The Kumo Anbu captain turned and snarled into his com link, "Who the fuck are you? Why the fuck are you attacking us?" The only response given to him was a primal growl that set everyone on edge, as it didn't come from the Zoid, but rather the pilot was the one to make a sound that resembled the battle cries of demons in Shinobi's nightmares.

In the case of Yugito, however, her breath caught in her throat as she became incapable of breathing, but not for the same reason as the Anbu that had pursued her. For her, the sight of the menacing, dare she say it - demonic - Genosaurer, reminded her of one of her dreams.

To most dreams meant very little, but Yugito had always been special, for more often than naught her dreams served as prophetic glimpses of the future that always came true, a gift that Yugito learned had also been prominent in the Jinchuuriki o the Nibi that came before her. In one particular dream that she had experienced as a child, she was in her Geno Hydra and running from six black and one white cats that she recognized as Lightning Saix, and she would be cornered and on the verge of being raped.

Then, like in a fairy tale story, a black demonic Genosaurer would come to her rescue, effortlessly defeating the evil Lightning Saix and the knight in shining armor that was the pilot would reveal himself to be a blond-haired male with whiskers and silvery eyes that changed to a weird hypnotic pattern of circles… but then her dream would end right after that. And now… it was becoming a reality, and for one more time, Yugito prayed to Kami that it would end just like it turned out in her dream.

The response that the pilot of the Genosaurer gave made her hairs stand on end, "I know exactly what you were planning to doing to this Jinchuuriki, I myself have been subjected to rape before. So if you believe for even one second that I'm going to allow another one of my kind to suffer the same as I have, you have more screws loose than even the villagers back home from Konoha!"

That sent everyone for a loop, this boy was a Jinchuuriki, and they were from Konoha? But the only Jinchuuriki there was the vessel of the Kyu… and right then and there, the Anbu instinctively knew they were more screwed than Jiraiya when he peeped on Tsunade, and the pilot seemed to recognize that, as the pilot then coolly stated, "Of course, you're welcome to try to change my mind, although I guarantee you'll only get as far as the 'try' part."

The challenge issued forth by the interfering Jinchuuriki infuriated the Anbu, after all they were Anbu, the best of the best, what good could one Zoid, Genosaurer or nor, do against the combined might of seven Lightning Saix?

The first of the Lightning Saix that were injured, more than likely the rookie of the group, charged and jumped at the Genosaurer, and the Genosaurer dodged so gracefully that it looked as if it were not even a machine. The Genosaurer in that same motion, swung it's leg and knocked the unwary Lightning Saix with it's tail, knocking off it's Pulse Laser Rifle and following that with it's foot to the neck of the Saix, crushing it and thereby killing it's pilot, due to the double-edged sword that was the Bio-Gattai drive when engaged.

"Wha..what was that?!", was the main sentiment share between all of the Anbu at having one of their own taken down with the ease of an academy student.

The shock that accompanied the death of one of the Anbu soon turned to rage, as two more of the Anbu charged their Lightning Saix and prepared to circle the Genosaurer… only for the closer one to be kicked far enough to fall off the cliff to it's doom, and the second one was caught off guard by the momentary distraction of his partner's fall and became victim to the smaller and quicker X-Breaker claw o the Genosaurer's side, which sliced it's head off and killed that Anbu as well.

The Anbu were now on alert, this as not just a Jinchuuriki, this… words weren't able to describe the force of nature that they were facing. The Anbu Captain growled out, "You're good… but not good enough!"

Suddenly, the Genosaurer jumped as another Lightning Saix attempted to catch it from behind with it's Vulcan Cannon, and it too fell victim to a descent to death as the Genosaurer moved gracefully to kick it off the ledge yet again.

"Impossible! He's taken down four of our Zoids, and it's only been a minute!", was the declaration of the Anbu Captain, realizing now that this was not just a fight to defeat their opponent, but to merely survive., and stated such to his remaining two comrades, "Both of you, Attack Pattern Beta! He'll kill you if you miss!"

Yugito felt mesmerized as she saw the Genosaurer move more gracefully than any Zoid she had ever witnessed, it seemed like it's attacks and movements themselves were alive!

With four of their seven comrades down, the two remaining Lightning Saix charged as the Anbu Captain's Lightning Saix BS decided to try to play it safe, watching it's two comrades performing a maneuver that had them charging straightforward, and switching between front and back, creating a slipstream that allowed their Zoids to move even faster, with the Zoid from behind the Saix in front finally jumping to pull a surprise leaping attack on the black Genosaurer.

"Take this you bas…. WOAH!", the Anbu began to say, until his Zoid was grabbed by it's tail in the Genosaurers jaws, and then swung around to knock off it's nearby comrade into the ocean, before being easily knocked off itself by the larger X-Breaker claw that the Genosaurer wielded.

The Genosaurer then somehow detected that the leader was about to take advantage of it's diverted attention, and turned to see the Lightning Saix BS fire a barrage of missiles from externally-equipped missile pods at it's sides, the Anbu Captain firing while shouting, "Feel my comrade's wrath, Jinchuuriki scum!"

Then, like as if the world seemed to move in slow motion for it, the Genosaurer fluidly dodged each and every single missile, slowly charging it's way to the Lightning Saix BS, the Anbu Captain finally realizing his impending death an screaming in vain, "No… no, NO! Ge.. GET AWAY!!! RAGGGHH…", the last sound he made being a bloody gurgle as the Genosaurer grabbed the Lightning Saix in it's X-Breaker and crushing it into two pieces.

And by the end of all of this, Nii Yugito had managed to climb out of her Zoid, her Organoid Nii following her closely, prepared to defend her to the death if the new Zoid proved hostile towards her. But instead of attacking her, the Genosaurer turned to face her, opened it's cockpit an dallied it's pilot to descend from it. Barely maintaining consciousness, the last thing Yugito saw… was the same blond-haired whisker faced male with silver concentric eye circles from her dream, before letting the darkness of unconsciousness consume her.

~~~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~

And there we go, another chapter completed by yours truly!

Sorry I took longer than expected, I've been working on another plot bunny to write a story about, and it took up a lot more of my time than I originally anticipated.

Before I start posting this chapter, I'd like to ask, why aren't you talking nonsense about Zoids and Naruto in my forums?!!

I didn't just make them for the hell of it, I want to see what crazy topics you might like to ask or think about, I don't care if it's something like how many Molgas does it take to screw in a light bulb? Use my forums!!

Don't worry, every chapter I'll address everyone's reviews when I get the chance, so I will respond in some ways to your questions, no fears my friends!

Anyways, I won't keep you I suspense any longer! Enjoy the next chapter!

_**AvatarofDeath13, over and out!**_


	3. Gods and their Angels! Inseparable Pair!

_**Basic Text-Style Explanation**_

~Normal Text~

The black, demonic Berserk Fuhrer sniffed the lovely, gentle flowers.

MARKER= Regular Text

~Thoughts~

'_I hate you, AvaDe, you bat-shit loco, manipulative son of a bitch!'_

MARKER= _Italics_

~Dialogue~

"All your base are belong to us!"

MARKER= "Double-Quotation Marks"

_**Special Text-Style Explanation**_

~Zoid-Speech~

"**You're avenger status is pissing me off, Uchiha Sasuke!**

MARKER= Underline and **Bold**

~Organoid-Speech~

"_I'll drown myself in sulfuric acid before I Gattai with a Molga!"_

MARKER= _Italics_ and Underline

~Demonic/Enhanced Speech~

"**I hate Molgas!"**

MARKER= "Double-Quotation Marks" & **Bold**

XOXOXOXOXOHOXOXOXOXOX

Hello, and welcome to Hell!

Just kidding, it's me, your favorite AvatarofDeath13, the one and only... Er, well I just messed up big time there, stupid introductions…

First, to prove my identity: **KISHIMOTO YOU FRIGGIN ROCK!!!!! **Making the Rikudou Sennin out as the Juubi Jinchuuriki, he proved one of my biggest fucking theories, I feel like doing the Macarena!

Anyways, I need more people to suggest Zoids, otherwise I'll have to take time away from writing and shift it towards planning, and nobody likes to read plans of the story and which aren't _part _of the story!

I'm going to also start working on some new scripts for new stories, and if you have any suggestions for stories, be sure to mention them in the Fanfic Idea Forum I set up! And now we get to what everyone wants to see, the next chapter!

But first, the addressing of the latest reviews!

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_Tech-nin_: Congratulations, you're the first to actually pay attention to that little tidbit I mentioned! You now have one Madness Ticket saved in your name!

_Outkast000_: Well, it's out, and I re-edited the first and second chapter so that it's easier to distinguish and know where the separate sections are!

_lopno: _Well, you have the second chapter out, and as for the Organoids of all the Jinchuuriki? They will basically be the same position as Kyu is with Naruto and they will be the same animals as the canon Bijuu, although their friendliness towards anyone other than their ward will vary (like for example, Ichi will be very wary of anyone besides Gaara, and will act violently towards them if needed.)

Also, in regards to the things taught to Naruto by Orochimaru and Itachi, I never said they only taught him stealth. I said they were the only ninja that were capable of finding Naruto when he didn't want to be found. And with the latest fight that Naruto has taken part in, you should understand why only ninja as exceptional as Orochimaru and Itachi are able to match him. He won't be beating every S-Rank ninja he fights, but he will be strong enough to put up a very good fight and not get his ass handed entirely to him!

_HolyMage Mouto: _Well, I'm not saying anything in regards to the Deathsaurer, and as for the six bodies thing… I'm not going to do that, for this story it would make Naruto too overpowered, but I will include some aspect of that into this story, just not as like having Naruto piloting six or seven Zoids at once.

That holds true for Pein as well, trust me he'll be every bit the badass he was portrayed in the manga/anime, but he'll also be a lot less full of himself to the point that he doesn't consider other options in how he thinks things. It's kind like the small and subtle but noticeable change I made to Orochimaru and later on Itachi.

_Raidentensho: _Sorry, no Jiraiya this chapter, but I'll be thinking of how to include the lovable pervert soon!

_Bakuto Masaki: _Thanks, and I would really appreciate that, especially because I have grand plans for Naruto's group and I could use a couple of original people to spice up the story. They're not just going to be the Nine Jinchuuriki, they'll just be the heads of a larger and more expansive organization like the Akatsuki.

I would especially appreciate OC's that would be directly subordinated to one of the Jinchuuriki's, like let's say someone whom works as part of Gaara's 'division.' Just remember to not go overboard in giving everyone the strongest Zoids ever created, unique and unused Zoids are alright, just that I don't want everyone piloting Blade Ligers or Genobreakers…

_crimsonkyuubi: _Thanks, I really do draw inspiration from reviews like this, s I consider myself a master of the unconventional.

_RockBane: _Oh man, I'm really glad I took the extra time to work on that! I'm not working to make everyone boring and flat in dimension and personality, and I also grow tired of certain stereotypes or clichés, especially in fanfiction.

I like Danzo, in my opinion he has the right approach in how to deal with things, and in my opinion he's treated as an evil character because nobody actually tries to either see things form his perspective, or if beyond all his questionable acts there is some good in what he does.

So I made a Danzo that has the war hawk mindset, but is in general a lot more agreeable and friendly. Also, he will be one of Naruto's contacts within Konoha, as Danzo will realize that his beloved village has to either shape up or suffer the eventual end from either it's own internal collapse from the corrupt councilors or complete annihilation from it's innumerable enemies.

_red eyes infernoryuu kaiser: _Nice name. Anyways, I appreciate the advice and the suggestions. I'll see whether they can work out in being included or not, and I hope to see more suggestions in the future from you!

_roshane: _Thanks… that's it. Short reviews, short responses, that's my motto! :P

_Fallen-Ryu: _Here is your update! Like I said, account issues prevented me from being able to update! And how Naruto's Zoid could compare in the future, like I tell everyone else: only the future can tell.

_mr. uroboros: _Thank you and thank you I like doing crossovers! XD

_Arsenel: _Once again, it's reviewers like you that makes me wonder why everyone else can't be a bit more objective and critical! I mean, reviewing is meant to make an opinion and to help adapt the quality or a written work, so what's the point of reviewing if there isn't anything to point out that I did especially well in or that I could improve on!

I always wondered why Orochimaru would be the way he is, and I suddenly conceived a small but radical idea, and then I ran to Venezuela with it! And this was the result!

The thing I mentioned, the Inertia System, is a practical counter to having a more powerful Charged Particle Cannon. Now, until Naruto starts training with a certain leader of a certain organization, he will avoid using it at all, if not as a last resort. It's way too dangerous to just use like any other weapon.

As for Naruto's skill, no he won't be beating everyone and their Kage, but he will be exceptionally skilled for his age, and he will continue to grow more powerful and skilled as time goes on. Trust me, he won't be able to beat even Orochimaru yet, although he would put up a better fight than most Elite Jonin or Anbu squads could manage to produce, as being in a similar level and being on the same level are two entirely different things!

And just a reminder, Naruto is not a ninja because of incompetence but because his graduations were intentionally sabotaged and denied to prevent him from ever becoming a ninja. And he has been acknowledged as being a bigger prodigy than Itachi himself, and this was before his Rinnegan activation.

The attaining of a Zoid that he can actually Bio-Gattai with, combined with his pre-existing skill and newly activated Doujutsu, all provide an actually feasible advantage that allows Naruto to be able to beat Anbu senseless, and that was only possible because the Kumo Anbu had been somewhat tired and irritable in having to chase a Jinchuuriki on a wild goose chase, and they had been unprepared for an interloper… especially one of Naruto's caliber.

_AvatarofDeath13: _Thank you for your reminder! I also apologize for your issues and problems, and hope you eventually find your balance in life. I find your comments and explanations very informative, and hope to see even greater works from yourself! Kudos to you! XD **[I just had to do it!]**

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Anyways, here we go with the next chapter! So cue the disclaimer time!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Zoids, they belong to their respective owners!

Private Disclaimer: I will see if, in the future ferrets will not be mistaken for rats, like everyone I know does way too often! Seriously, a ferret is too friggin big to be a damned rat, people!

~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~

The storm clouds that blanketed the sky and cast a gloomy shadow over a village did nothing to lessen the incredible sight of the village itself when seen from a high-altitude, and in fact only served to magnify the majesty that the village seemed to possess. Unlike most ninja villages, which were expansive low-level constructs, the Village Hidden in the Rain could not say they were particularly large… in terms of the amount of land the village took up.

However, the large metropolis known as Amegakure was not recognized or revered for it's size, and why should they have to… when it was primarily composed of buildings and constructs that dwarfed the size of the tallest landmarks of the other hidden villages, natural _or_ manmade. With the dull grey of the buildings and pipes that composed more than 80% of the visible village, coupled with the solemn atmosphere and unending torrential rains, Amegakure looked to be more of some impregnable fortress than a simple ninja village.

Which made perfect sense, seeing that was the main intention of the designers than helped plan and construct until it now became what one would presently see, a place that looked like every one of it's citizen was as paranoid as a superstitious conspiracy theorizing dictator… which also wasn't too far off a description.

You would also be suspicious, if your village also sat in the middle of the land between the other major Hidden Villages, had served as the battleground for all three Great Ninja Wars, and existed with the threat of such ninja villages on each and every single compass direction. That suspicion was uniform and the reason why Amegakure was still standing… and also why it had more civil wars than all the other Hidden Villages combined, and would more than likely continue to hold that 'prestigious' title for years to come…

Or it would have went down that path, had the current and recently-risen leader of Amegakure taken charge, and while it appeared to have not changed at all on the outside, on the inside Amegakure had experienced more change in the last decade than most other villages had experienced since their founding, all through the efforts of the new Amekage, a man revered by the populace as a God, the one known as Pein. From his current position, the Amekage - Pein himself - could watch and observe the entire village from to of the gargantuan building that was so large that two large Zoids could stand on the balcony and have more than enough room to walk around in.

The individual known as Pein and the revered leader of Amegakure was an intimidating individual, but not in the normal sense of scary or dangerous. For one, he was not overtly large or muscular, yes he appeared somewhat lithe and strong, but not to suggest that his power lied in sheer brute strength. He didn't have any bizarre appendages like horns, tails, or wings, which dispelled all those rumors about him being some sort of creature. And he didn't have anything of note about his body, well anything that would suggest he had something covered by his black cloak with red clouds on it, so it wasn't likely that he was trying to hiding. All this and many would wonder how he could stand out if he didn't seem to possess inhuman characteristics, however his appearance nonetheless would catch many an eye despite initial belief.

For one, you often didn't see a man with red hair, much less hair that was spiked up and in random fashion in a style that only Namikazes could often claim, and many who knew Pein before he became Pein, would recall him having long straight red hair and thus be surprised. To those who truly knew him, Pein took that hair style I homage to his deceased best friend, the one whom originally inspired him to fight and eventually defeat Hanzo to begin with.

Also, the man had seemed to have gone crazy with using piercings, as his nose, lips, and ears all had at least two of them, and he had many more on various parts of his body that were hidden by his cloak, which served to intensify his image. The exotic look was completed with his eyes, a silvery-purple pattern of concentric circles that perfectly matched the ones used just recently by another spiky-haired male.

Only the current company of Pein - that took the form of an amber-eyed blue-haired busty woman, wearing the same cloak design as her male companion, and with an origami flower in her hair, knew Pein personally. To everyone else you might as well answer what is the true meaning of life if asked what you believed Pein to be, which eventually led to his status in Amegakure as a God.

That was just how he wanted it to be, the unknown element of who he was only added to his mystique and strengthened his following among the villagers of Ame. After all, if you couldn't give a unknown powerful man a name, a face, an identity, but you know they are there still, could you really say they are a man? That only fueled their belief in him as a God, and that was what separated him from all the previous rulers of Ame: while they had the fear of their subjects, Pein held the faith of his subjects, and it was often faith that gave people the extra push needed to make sacrifices to ultimately further themselves.

Although even had to admit: this secrecy was starting to wear, even on him. The intentional isolation that he chose, while giving him an even more Godlike standing amongst his people, did leave him unbearably lonely and yearning something engaging, as even Gods grow bored sometime. Add to the fact hat in reality, besides his 'benefactor' whom didn't really make for a good conversation partner, and with his subordinates often too busy on missions he personally assigned, Pein really only had two people he could often talk and relate with, and the other was usually spying for him like he was now.

The blue-haired woman, known as Konan by Pein, God's Angel or Angel for short by the people of Ame, knew this for a fact, sure Pein never said anything about it, and he never showed anything to hint at it, but she _knew _Pein, sitting with him on the nose of their Zoids on top of the tallest building in Amegakure was a common habit of theirs, and very rarely were words spoken between them.

After all, they knew each other to the point where words were no longer needed to be heard and expressions no longer needed to be seen, as they could always tell exactly what the other was thinking, having been the only ones whom knew each other's pasts, the only knows whom knew Pein's past.

Pein's origins were a mystery, his appearance was a mystery, his powers were a mystery, everything about the man was a mystery, and speculation of everything about Pein was and to this day still is the most common subject of gossip and debate within the village within recent years. Unlike in the past, the villagers of Ame could now talk freely, no longer did they have to fear speaking out of turn, as the God of Rain only acted against those whom went against him in battle, which became another piece of firewood the proverbial flame of Pein's Godhood.

Inside of Amegakure, Pein was Ame and Pei was God, outside of Ame the world was still stuck in the past, as many still believed Salamander Hanzo to be Ame's current ruler. But that was why Pein made the only unquestionable rule being that nobody could speak a word about Ame outside of it, this made so that news of Ame remained known only to the people of Ame. The world believed Ame to still be in civil war, when in reality the latest civil war of the Hidden Rain had ended year ago, with the death of it's former ruler and the victory of the rebelling force, and the one whom had pulled the assassination took over, Pein himself.

Now, that in itself does not sound like an unusual tale, especially where everyone lived in a world of ninja and Zoids and where the Latin saying '_Memento Mori' _was not just a philosophy, it was a way of life. The circumstances surrounding the takeover and it's background, however, are the subject of concern… for were it not for the lockdown on Amegakure that ensured not a word left the village, the Village Hidden in the Rain would more than likely rise above Konoha itself among the other villages as the most dangerous village producing Shinobi and Kunoichi in the present.

To understand this, note that Amegakure was for a long time the site of more war and death than any other village to date, it was accurately described best in the saying, 'Amegakure should be the major village and _not_ Kiri. Bloody Mist? Ha, it's nothing compared to a village that bleeds as much as it rains, where every single day the people wage Civil War, and where every man, woman, and child, civilian or ninja, is required by law to carry at least one kunai hidden on their person at all times!'

The previous leader of Ame was renown by all the villages for being one of the most powerful ninja to ever walk the Earth: Sanshouo no Hanzou, a man that many claimed could stand on a equal footing with the likes of wandering legends like Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama. It was he whom granted the three students of Hiruzen Sarutobi the title of Densetsu no Sannin… after he had beaten them in the midst of their primes and spared them in return for going by that title.

Hanzo was also a man whom represented the pinnacle of how suspicious an Ame ninja could become, to describe it best… Hanzo was to paranoia as Uchiha are to insanity. The man ruled with an iron fist and had anyone whom challenged his authority in any way whatsoever killed, be they child or elder, and then he had their families and friends killed to make an example of them. For once Ame was almost free of the chaos that become a constant part of their lives… but only because they feared for themselves, for everyone they knew cared for, and they above all else feared Hanzo himself, and because nobody alive had the power or motive to bring down the tyrant nobody tried to rebel.

So when another civil war started, Hanzo showed his true colors by doing unspeakable acts, for example often the rebels captured were publicly tortured in front of the entire village, in full view of children, and many times he didn't even bother to interrogate them while torturing his captives. All in all, it showed Hanzo was just a rather merciless dictator, and not a very good leader like most would be lead to believe, but he would more than likely remain in power for years to come.

Then one day, from out of hammerspace appeared a man whom many claimed to be a the only one among the rebels whom had a good chance at killing Hanzo, having never lost a single fight from the moment he began to learn to utilize his chakra, and bearing a Kekkei Genkai that was said to have only existed in legend, this man named Pein was seen by the rebels as a God. As the story goes, Hanzo wasn't impressed and disregarded the rumors, and then one day he came back from a battle barely alive, with the rumors stating he fought against Pein and his comrades.

Take a time skip for a year or two, Hanzo eventually falls in battle to Pein and now Pein rules Amegakure, and he begins a different approach to ruling Amegakure. Having just killed Ame's tyrant of a ruler and giving the arrogant family and friends of Hanzo a taste of their own medicine by doing to them what Hanzo did to many of the families of friends of any one-person whom went against him. Of course, you also would get brownie points among the citizens of any village if you had the power to simply make the rain that had never once left Ame, spontaneously stop.

Within years, Ame was now in it's current favorable position, and with the other villages having their heads so far up their asses that they could only see all the shit they've been creating, it was time for Ame to come out of it's own gloomy shadow. But… where would that leave Pein? What happened after all was said and done, what would Pein have to look forward to if hr were to achieve the dreams of his best friend… and more importantly, how in the hell was the plan that Pein's benefactor going to work?!

Seriously, anyone with half a brain would figure out it is, in some form (whether it be financial, economical, multiracial, or simply good old physical) suicide to attempt to forcibly infiltrate the villages, capture each Jinchuuriki, extract their Bijuu Zoid (thus killing a potentially powerful ally), seal their Bijuu's into the Gedou Mazou statue, fire the new super weapon at the other villages, and then somehow expect peace to come? A **gerbil** could up with a better plan than _that_!

Sure, the Jinchuuriki would be a powerful asset to possess, and in Pein's opinion it was actually a complete waste to simply kill them when they could convince them to join his cause: why dissect a bunch of good quality pre-made weapons that _did_ work, just to take a gamble towards making a super weapon that might not even work, much less fulfill their goals of world peace? And besides, the Jinchuuriki were the ultimate examples of pain, they above anyone else would understand and sympathize with his philosophy and his motives, and thinking about it they had the most to gain from a utopian world free from violence.

Which was why Pein had given his subordinate and spy master, Zetsu, take a secret mission assigned by him, on top of the mission to observe and track the Jinchuuriki's motions by their lunatic of a shadow leader: Zetsu was to 'lay out dirty laundry', which in code meant that he was to find any possible means to push the village far enough so as to anger the Jinchuuriki's, and thus prompt them to leaving. Once they left, Pein could come in and offer them sanctity and a place in his world when he established the goddamn peace that idiots like Hanzo purposely made impossible to achieve in their attempts to further themselves as warriors.

They would either accept and join together, or at the very least promise neutrality or a variable alliance to one other, he'd at the very least prefer a Jinchuuriki whom won't interfere versus a Jinchuuriki facing off against him, and really: what did a Jinchuuriki have to gain by letting the world remain as it was, a world where their name was synonymous with hate, fear, and loathing?

So into his own musings, Pein nearly missed the sudden de-cloaking of the Zoid in front of him, the one that he knew belonged to his spy master and other frequent companion Zetsu, and intrigued by the arrival of a man whom many would believe was suffering from multiple identity crisis (as a dark skinned man, a fair skinned man, and a Venus fly trap), "Zetsu… you are _earlier_ than expected. What is so urgent that you had to report to me ahead of schedule?'

The look given to him by the former Kusagakure ninja set him on edge, as it was almost unheard of for both of Zetsu's halves to have the same expression and line of thought, and for both of them to be this serious and solemn, either this was something like the next season of Icha Icha Paradise issues were coming out earlier than expected, or something bad like Kakuzu killing yet _another_ of his partners… did the bounty hunter know how hard and costly it was to find and recruit decent ninja to fulfill his purposes, and yet he always complained about **us **wasting money… filthy hypocrite…

"_**Pein-sama**_, **we found something that** _we felt was too incredible to_ **not inform you of immediately**." came the simultaneous response from both of Zetsu's halves, which actually made Pein stiffen and give the plant-like spy his full undivided attention. The next thing that was spoken sent him for a loop, "We discovered another bearer of your Kekkei Genkai."

"What?!", was the only thing Pein could immediately response with, and for good reason, after all Pein had for a long time believed that he alone was the remaining bearer of his Kekkei Genkai, the Doujutsu that belonged to the very first Ninja, the one whom founded the basis for the Zoid-Ninja partnership, and he voiced his thoughts as such, "This had better not be another one of your attempts to get me to lighten up, Zetsu!"

The serious look did not falter one bit from the face of the former Grass nin, and he continued with an even more startling discovery when he made his way over to Pein and handed him a couple of photos, adding, _"And from what _**you can see here**_**, **__it's an even bigger stunner_**when you identify**_just whom shares_**your Doujutsu with**_**you**__**…"**_

The photos that Pein observed fell from his hands, stupefied beyond belief -only made more significant knowing that Pein was harder to surprise than a lethargic Gojulas - and when Konan took a glimpse at whatever would have made even Pein shocked, gasped and reacted in a similar manner when she saw the image of a spiky blond-haired boy of around thirteen years of age - with what looked like whisker marks on his face and the silvery-purple concentric rings that the crimson-haired Amekage next to her possessed.

The boy looked to be carrying an unconscious long blonde-haired girl of around 16, whom also seemed to have some strange presence to herself, into a cave, being followed by two Zoids of the same Zoid Type as Pein's Zoid, as well as two small mechanical beings too small to be Zoids. The first one was a masculine crimson nine-tailed fox with black tribal markings, and accompanying it by it's side was a feminine violet two-tailed cat with similar black tribal markings, and both could only be Organoids.

It appeared that the new bearer of Pein's legendary Kekkei Genkai, was none other than the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko, Uzumaki Naruto, and it seemed he had found himself the companionship of his fellow Jinchuuriki of the Nibi no Bakaneko, Nii Yugito.

For the next few minutes, both Konan and Zetsu watched as Pein seemed to contemplate something with incredible effort, both sensing that his thought processes were running a mile a minute as he tried to find out what he should do from here, and then Konan held her breath as she immediately picked up on Pein's decision before he showed any indication of his doing so, and Zetsu was treated to the bizarre sight of a smirking Pein, the next words he anticipated as being a milestone in their organization's story.

The vibe and expression of absolution that Pein seemed to possess, was in fact the very same fearful yet inspiring one that his fellow Doujutsu bearer adopted when he came to an ultimatum, and his words full of conviction said, "Zetsu… I believe it's best if I _introduce_ myself to my recently revealed relative… don't **you** think so?"

Somewhere in the middle of Water Country, a black-haired man with a orange spiral mask inexplicably experienced a bone-chilling sensation that coursed throughout his body, and he asked himself, "…why do I suddenly I get the feeling that I'm going to have to deal with something _worse_ than one subordinate wielder of the Samsara Eye in the near future?"

===X===X===X Chapter 03: Gods and their Angels X===X===X===

_The rocking of a chair could be heard inside the house of one Nii Asuka, as she smiled while telling the many adventures of her husband to her only child: her four-year old daughter, Nii Yugito. Going back on it, life was hard for a single mother like Asuka to raise her daughter by herself, especially seeing as Yugito was by ill fortune a Jinchuuriki, and the circumstances surrounding her daughter becoming one left little Yugito the subject of ire by a large portion of their home in Kumogakure._

_Luckily for Asuka, she had the support and protection of her brother-in-laws, and ergo Yugito's uncles, the Godaime Raikage and Kirabi, as well as an unofficial watchdog over Yugito when she was unable to be with her, although watchcat was more appropriate._

_The Organoid Nii had played the largest role in turning what could have possibly become an extremely harsh life for Asuka into an only slightly challenging ordeal. For Asuka Nii, the former Bijuu now turned Organoid had become a blessing in disguise, automatically and unconditionally protecting, guiding, and nurturing Yugito when and where Asuka could not, thus becoming something like a big sister to the otherwise socially-inept girl._

"_Kaa-san, what was tou-san like?" was the innocent yet heart wrenching question asked by the blonde Jinchuuriki, whom looked up from her mother's lap to express her curiosity in learning more of the hero that her father was._

_Asuka, however, had to use all her willpower not to break down at the unfairness of it all, how Yugito was forced to accept a burden not even two hours after she was born, and how her loving husband was no longer part of the world of the living. It was cruel fate that Asuka's husband, Nii Shinji and the former Yondaime Raikage, had been forced to sacrifice his own life to use Yugito as the vessel to turn Nibi into the Organoid Nii, all because of the foolish error of his former clan._

_Trembling at the thought that her daughter, by all rights should know about the man that helped conceive ,and thus make her birth possible, the iron-clad will of the former Anbu Captain that was Nii Asuka finally crumbled, as she relented to her daughter's simple yet painful request._

_With a heavy sigh, Asuka resigned herself to ignoring the ache she started to experience in reawakening forgotten memories, and thereby remembering what she had lost, and then finally began to tell Yugito a heavily-edited version of the story centering around a young boy who grew up as Yotsuki Shinji, and later became the man Nii Shinji that she loved and married, "…fine, pay attention Yugi-chan as I probably won't repeat this story again. I'll tell you… about that moronic gladiator that stole my heart, the heroic fool that was your father, my darling Shinji-baka…"_

_Shinji shared one large similarity with his younger brothers the [now] Godaime Raikage and Kirabi, whom was a Jinchuuriki himself: the three of them detested their family - the Yotsuki Clan. They were the ones whom had originally offered Kirabi as a willing - on the behalf of his and their father - vessel to seal the surprisingly docile Hachibi, and it seemed one Jinchuuriki within the Yotsuki wasn't enough to satisfy the selfish clan._

_Thus sprung the origins that lead to the idea of capturing and then using another Bijuu to create yet another Jinchuuriki for Kumo and specifically the Yotsuki Clan. While originally the decision of whether it was right or not to pursue such a selfish and uncaring ambition was arranged to be contested, the debate was eventually brushed aside after the Council's learning that Kumo's rival, Sunagakure had already used the Bijuu known as the Ichibi to create their own living weapon, and they were already on their second Ichibi Jinchuuriki._

_During this time, when Asuka finally started to consider Shinji a potential love interest, she soon learned there was a lot more to being Yotsuki Shinji than just a simple warrior, he had another part of his life in being the clan heir and prodigy of the Yotsuki Clan, and she learned just how much pressure and loathing Shinji had for the clan, save his two younger brothers._

_This abhorring of the clan grew to an all-time high when Shinji and his brothers learned by mistake that the Council and their Yotsuki clan cohorts actually managed to successfully defeat and contain the Nibi, which at the moment was sealed into a statue. _

_Unlike his younger brothers, Shinji went from overly spiteful to beyond livid, his hate surpassing that of anything Asuka had witnessed, hell Asuka had abused and mooched off of Shinji for years and he had never shown such a degree and capacity to hate._

_The unspoken rage Shinji felt towards his father and clan head, Yotsuki Gendo, as well as the arrogant crones of their clan in their attempts to create another living weapon, reached the dreaded point of no return, and then and there Shinji finally decided he had enough. Asuka herself, whom had just recently started to date and fall for the blonde future Raikage, was beyond impressed that Shinji did something that very few clan ninjas in history have had the balls to do: Shinji exiled himself from the Yotsuki Clan, casting aside his relations to his horrid clan and even his own last name._

_Suffice to say, the only Yotsuki clan members that didn't adopt a look of utter-constipation in their expressions when that indignity reared it's head were Shinji's younger brothers, whom had actually needed to be taken to the hospital after laughing so hard that they nearly hyperventilated. They stayed in the hospital for a week after letting the true humorous irony sink in, after all the prodigious Clan Heir of the Yotsuki Clan and future Yondaime Raikage had just up and left the clan, and now their prick of a father Gendo was in the proverbial canoe approaching the waterfall._

_A month after his breakaway from the clan, Shinji and Asuka, whom had been dating for some time before that, had finally tied the knot, the only decent Yotsuki that attended being Shinji's two younger brothers, and to cement his separation from the clan that he despised, Shinji had taken Asuka's last name instead of the traditional wife taking on the husbands last name._

_Not even two months after that did Shinji announce that Asuka was officially pregnant with Yugito, and Asuka had to admit: the time she was pregnant was some of the most fun she had ever had in her life. Being an ex-Shinobi, Asuka didn't have as much trouble as a civilian would in dealing with the side effects of pregnancy, but during that time Shinji had become her proverbial slave, and it didn't help that he was naturally very obedient towards her._

_Hell, she never expected Shinji to take her seriously when she said he wasn't allowed to so much as look at another women, and had to be abstained from rolling on the ground laughing and chastised that she was still pregnant with Yugito by her doting brother-in-law Kirabi, whom wasn't able to compose himself that much better upon seeing Shinji wearing a veil over his eyes to avoid looking at women._

_Sure it wasn't the first time Shinji had exhibited that strange habit of walking around with some form of blindfold, but the jubilate Kirabi wasn't used to seeing his brother take orders from Asuka like a regular Genin does from the Raikage, and this was considering that Shinji was the Raikage! Although, upon thinking about it, to this very day Asuka had yet to learn the answer as to how Shinji was able to walk around as blind as a bat at times, and yet still manage to never bump into anything._

_Getting back on track, life for the recently appointed Yondaime Hokage and retired Anbu Captain had reached the pinnacle of perfection… until the day of Yugito's birth. Of course it isn't fair to blame the deaths of the villagers and Shinji's death on Yugito, when really it was those damn power-hungry Yotsuki buzzards and that heartless bastard Gendo that were the ones responsible for releasing Nibi upon the village and forcing Nii Shinji to give his life for his village!_

_The night of Yugito's birth also marked the day that the Yotsuki Clan would seal the Nibi into a lesser-important Yotsuki member's child, when something went wrong. The official story of what happened was: the Nibi broke free due to a disruption in the sealing array, before going on a rampage. The real story however was: the Yotsuki clan members intentionally screwed up the sealing in the exact manner in which it was reported, knowing the Bijuu would be released and driven so mad that it wouldn't even recall that they were the ones responsible for screwing around with her._

_The Yotsuki clan's agenda became all too obvious to Asuka in retrospect, as not only had Yugito become the unlucky Jinchuuriki, but Shinji had died __**and**__ left the spot of Raikage vacant. Thus, the slime balls had managed to create a weapon, extract vengeance upon their former clan heir, and create a huge power vacuum that could be filled up, all in one foul stroke._

_It was only thanks to Shinji's annoying habit of being totally prepared to the point of being utterly ridiculous, that Yugito had not ended up becoming Kumo's living weapon. Having expected such an underhanded maneuver from the Yotsuki, Shinji had secretly nominated his younger brother (the one who didn't rap) to become Godaime Hokage in the case of his untimely death, before a proper candidate could be chosen._

_And like his brother Kirabi, the Godaime was none too pleased with his clan and having to go to their older brother's funeral, and had basically threatened to have the Yotsuki clan 'purged of it's filth', which when translated basically stated that they would do everything in their power to wipe out every 'unfavorable' in their clan._

_This was again repeated when the Yotsuki tried to use various unsuccessful methods to gain control and guardianship over Yugito, and when they couldn't do anything about that, they followed a tactic that Konoha was unknowingly to all famous for: poisoning the village and it's citizens against Yugito by playing on their fears and spreading disgusting lies that made Yugito out to be some sort of demon in the form of a four-year old girl._

_Having already finished the end of the story of her husband, Asuka was pulled out of her thoughts when she registered the tugging of her kimono that signified that Yugito wanted to get her attention. Noticing the sleepy look on her daughter's face, Asuka chuckled, knowing that she would be ready to fall asleep anytime now, only made more obvious when Nii silently strode into the room, as if sensing that her bonded partner would be going to bed shortly. Asuka's musings were cut short yet again, when she realized her daughter had yet to ask whatever question it was that seemed to keep her from drifting off into sleep, and asked, "Oh, what is it my little Yugi-Chan."_

_Boy was she surprised when Yugito gave her a serious look… well the most serious look that an adorable four-year old girl bearing a catlike-demeanor could manage to scrounge up, and asked, "Do you think I will find someone like you found Tou-san?"_

_Taking a moment to ponder what brought something like this up, Asuka finally decided to answer her truthfully, and stated, "Well Yugi-chan, I can't honestly say, but if an 'oban' like me could find someone as unique and selfless as your father, you stand a good chance of having the same happen to you. A very good chance, considering that strangely my family line is known for having the incredible luck of finding those diamonds in the rough, but that's only after a life of hardship."_

"_Usually, and excuse my language but I can't rewords this without it losing it's meaning, in regards to our finding that 'jewel' among garbage the family saying goes, 'the crappier your life, the bigger your payout.' Knowing the horror of a life you're going to have, no matter how many times I die inside imagining what you'll go through, I'm nevertheless content knowing that the man whose going to win your heart is more than likely going to be a __**God**__ among men."_

_Grinning at her daughter, Asuka prepared to hand her over to Nii to put to bed, when one last question was issued forth from and left to be answered for Yugito, "How will I know it's him, kaa-san?"_

_Extorting a giggle from her daughter at her silly thinking pose, Asuka finally answered with no small amount of warmth, "You'll know it's him by the instinct that runs in our family, it's never failed my ancestors and it hasn't failed me. When you find that all your troubles go away just by being around him, when he manages to make every bad dream you have go away, when he makes you believe no matter how old you are that there is such a thing as a knight in shining armor, when you feel complete with him, that's your guy."_

_The quiet, "I love you, kaa-san…" was the last thing Yugito said before falling asleep, contenting in snuggling into the warmth and security that her mother's body brought to the girl., and the kiss on her forehead that followed with an, "I love you too, musume…" It would only be realized later by her, but that was the last time she ever had anyone say they loved her, as the next night… marked the death of Nii Asuka from an assassin secretly hired by the Yotsuki clan elders, and the beginning of Yugito's __**hell.**_

The first sound that Yugito awoke to was the sound of the pitter-patter of feet against a hard rocky surface, a sound that seemed to echo around her, and before even gaining even some semblance of awareness in her other senses Yugito deduced she was in a cave of sorts. It was part of her training, and that of all Shinobi, that when captured to first get a semblance of one's surroundings above all else, as otherwise it would be pointless to try to escape if they had no idea of what kind of place they were being kept in…

And suddenly with the thought of being captured came the realization that she was being chased in order to be captured and brainwashed into being an obedient Jinchuuriki slut that sucked off the bastard councilors. Still unable to see, she started to lose her cool and panic, and when the pitter-patter of feet came closer to her, Yugito recognized the sounds as being that of metal against the cavern floor.

'The sound is familiar… it's definitely something metal, it's moving in a mechanized manner… and it's a quadruped?!' was the first thought that came to Yugito's mind, the next being, 'Nii!' She proceeded to jump and blindly glomp the feline Organoid, but immediately noticed something wrong. 'Wait… Nii isn't as tall or broad as what I'm holding, Nii doesn't have a muzzle as far as I remember…' And when her sight started to come back, the first thing Yugito could make out were nine waving objects that resembled… 'And I'm definitely sure that Nii doesn't have nine tails!'

The first response that Yugito made, upon her sight restoring and seeing a crimson-red fox Organoid with black tribal markings similar in design and pattern to the yellow marking that covered Nii's body, was to shriek and jump back, instinctively reaching for a kunai in her ninja pouch… which surprisingly was still there, and hadn't been tampered with in the slightest.

'Hm… what kind of idiot managed to capture me, and more importantly how in the nine hells did I manage to get caught? And whose stupid enough to not check their targets after capturing them for weapons and tools?!', was the irritating thoughts that plagued Yugito's mind, and to her relief it seems as if her surprised yell had not gone unnoticed, as Nii flashed into the area in a manner not unlike the Lightning Saix sent to… and there Yugito collapsed onto one knee, overcome by a sudden wave of nausea as memories surged into her mind, unintentionally answering a lot of the questions surrounding her ending up in this situation.

"_Yugito-chan, are you alright?!"_, was the first spoken concern made by the Organoid Nii in her language that only those fluent in the language of Organoid tongue or Organoid-Speak for short could understand, otherwise all that one would hear are sounds pertaining to grunts and growls of that Organoid's species. For most individuals, an Organoid was believed incapable of using speech, to another Organoid or a Jinchuuriki, however, they spoke as clear as if it was a human speaking to another human.

Seeing as Organoid-Speak to Zoid-Speak is like comparing Old World English to Modern Slang, it comes to no surprise that even most Zoids have difficulty understanding Organoids, only made more difficult since only a small minority of pilots are actually decent in Zoid-speak, this barrier between languages was a key factor in Organoids being misunderstood, often being seen as tense and threatening when in actuality they could have been just asking one's opinion of the weather for all one knew.

But getting back to the present, the contented sigh that Yugito gave reassured Nii that she was fine, and then she immediately turned to the source of Yugito's distress, and did something totally out of character…

She whacked the head of the fox Organoid with both of her tails, scolding him in a manner not unlike how a wife would admonish their husband after forgetting to get their wife something on the grocery list, _"You __**idiot! **__Didn't I warn you, at least __**three**__ times__ already, that scaring Yugito-chan when she just wakes up from Chakra exhaustion is the __**worst**__ thing you could do?! But __**noooooo**__, you just have to do things your way and ignore my instructions, are all Organoids as ignorant as you, or are you just that one __special __case?!"_

Yugito was even more surprised when the Organoid fox rolled his eyes in a dismissive manner, and spoke in a suave manner that did nothing to hide his amusement, "Tch! You know what Naggy McBitch Moan? All I hear is you running your mouth, rolling complaint after complaint like they're going out of style, and do you actually offer a solution to our problems, or did it get lost somewhere in that storm of insults and cheap jibes you keep shooting at me?! And need I remind you, that when **I** offered to let **you** be the one to wait for her to wake up, **you** started mumbling about checking up on that Geno Hydra to make sure Naruto-kun didn't fry it's system, when all he said he was going to do was do an assessment on the damage to your damn partner's Zoid!"

The chuckling that came somewhere from the shadows drew Yugito's attention away from the bickering… well they pretty much fought like a couple if not a married one, and while it didn't bear any malicious intent other than the jeering amusement directed at the fox Organoid's misfortune, whom Yugito presumed to be the partner of this man, and was caught off guard when the voice spoke in a cool, mesmeric tone.

"Hehehe… and here I thought only Anko-nee-chan could manage to drive Kyu up the wall, and most certainly not to this degree… but where are my manners, may I know the name of the one whom I saved, Jinchuuriki-san?", and from the shadows in a methodical gait strode none other than the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki himself, but to Yugito this individual meant something entirely different.

'H-he…he's t-th… he's the one… from my dream! He's the one who saved me from those Anbu!', and so shocked was she that she couldn't control her next action: she flung herself at him, breaking his impassive expression with a hint of surprise for one small second, before hugging and thanking him over and over with her face pressed into his chest, muttering incoherable gibberish… and Naruto was reminded all to well that she would have most likely been raped like he had, were it not for his coincidental presence in the area…

So Naruto simply laid there, rubbing the back of the older blonde-haired female as her mutterings began to slow down and decrease in volume, until they stopped altogether, and she managed to make a small smile that only hinted to how lucky she felt, and even Naruto had to admit that she did look cute with her current expression… although that led to him growing a small blush on his face, realizing that he had a female, a very hot female he might add, all but attached to his torso, and even if he wasn't a pervert, he was still a guy.

Yugito noticed this as well, having begun a similar train of thought once her temporary mania had dissipated, and gently released her grip on Naruto, before backing away and facing away from him, to hide her own blush. Not wanting to lose face in front of the man, young though he may be - but a man in her eyes nonetheless - Yugito meekly explained, "S-sorry about that, it's just that I was… I mean I never realized just how horrifying the threat of rape could mean to someone like me."

The only reply was small, knowing smile and a slight nod, and Naruto calmly answered, "I understand, more than you might expect. I reacted the same exact way afterwards, except I had actually be…" was as far as Naruto went, before he immediately realized what he had said, and cut off his line of thought before too much was said. He didn't want her to know that he had been less fortunate in facing a potential rapist…

For Yugito, enough was said, and she nearly gasped at what Naruto had unwittingly insinuated, only made more apparent upon recalling Naruto's words when facing the Anbu that were chasing her.

"_I know exactly what you were planning to doing to this Jinchuuriki, I myself have been subjected to rape before. So if you believe for even one second that I'm going to allow another one of my kind to suffer the same as I have, you have more screws loose than even the villagers back home from Konoha!"_

The revelation that the one of front of her, the one whom had saved her from being raped, had in fact fallen victim to said unforgivable act, caused Yugito to freeze in utter shock, no shock wasn't even close to describing just how she felt right now at this moment, in fact there were too many words to describe how she felt seemed to go on and on. Despondent, thunderstruck, aghast, overwhelmed, crestfallen, the list just kept going and going, and the riot that was her emotions was slowly ebbing away the dam that she had created, to prevent what she felt was coming from happening.

And it was all for naught, as the overload of information concerning her company's cruel life - which was so horrible that he had in fact been raped - became too much for Yugito's apathy, for most of her life following her mother's death Yugito had all but killed her ability to feel emotions, and now it seemed the years of repressed emotions had accumulated and were now all trying to catch up in a mere few seconds.

Yugito struggled with all her might, she fought as hard as she could to repress the coming tears that were brought to the surface, but it became a moot pint as it was too late: for the first time since the death of her mother, Yugito began to cry.

It was only a few tears here and there, only a small trickle rolling off Yugito's face and which was barely noticeable, however that trickle grew and grew until Yugito was [unsuccessfully] holding back the river of tears with her hands - and then and there: Yugito knew that she had to try to find someway to stop it, less she succumb in her frail state to her own emotional hurricane.

In response, her instincts promoting the stability of her sanity and her self-preservation - honed by years of emotional negligence and suppression - worked so that Yugito would find some way out of the endless depression she would unknowingly sink into.

Not unlike a supercomputer - one on crack and speed, that is - Yugito's mind processed with a surprising gusto choices and outcomes, trying desperately to find some way to calm herself down, and after subconsciously calculating each and every possible solution and finding none that didn't ultimately end with Yugito killing herself, reluctantly decided to go with the - until this very point - unused failsafe integrated into every female in response to a traumatic experience: latching onto the closest source of support, that would hopefully know how to deal with this situation.

And seeing as the closest one in her sights was Naruto, like a machine Yugito's mind began to work furiously towards prolonging her existence, which it did by manually making Naruto priority number one.

In a manner similar yet completely different to one Hyuuga Hinata, Naruto became the light and purpose of Yugito's existence, he would be her main purpose for fighting for her life and avoiding premature death, as of now the spiky blond-hair man with metallic silver eyes known as Naruto was now Yugito's God in every sense of the word. It was a strange process, and surprisingly to anyone whom learned it: it wasn't the first time someone broke down and changed to this extreme.

As a matter of fact, another blue-haired woman had gone through a similar transformation with a similarly radical outlook, and ironically _her_ person of reverence also came to be seen as a God in her eyes, and even more ironic was that both of these 'Gods' shared common traits: exotic spiky hair, cold expression, a certain Zoid-type class that they piloted, and the ability to change their eyes to that mysterious rippling pattern of silvery-purple concentric circles.

But unlike the Hyuuga heiress and even more similar to the blue-haired devout of a God, the former of whom sought to be one with the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki so as to become stronger while Yugito's ambitions paralleled the latter's in that their intentions revolved around: it was the reverse scenario, where the devout would seek to grow stronger, to ultimately be with her God.

It would seem incredible to most how Yugito's mind worked and just somehow changed her own views in life so as to established Naruto as her goal of life and purpose of power, and all of this was done in less than one minute, all because of her moment of weakness brought upon by one Jinchuuriki's lament for another.

With her priorities now set, the 'new' Yugito awakened, and her first thought was a disgusting one: the amount of pain that Naruto had suffered as a result of his life. As a result, once again Yugito become distraught with grief, the sad irony of it all being that she changed to avoid doing such a thing… only to end up going through said thing regardless.

Yugito found herself in her fellow Jinchuuriki's arms, looking up into his eyes to see if she was right or wrong in crying for him, only to nearly explode from a wave of emotional agony after looking into the male blonde's eyes, and collapse on her knees.

In that one glance, Yugito saw and recognized the desire to cry - just like she was doing presently - deep within Naruto's eyes, but that desire was nothing more than a hollow shell, a ghostly remnant left over from the years of torment composed of fear and pain brought upon him by the villagers, and by which had prompted Naruto to steel his heart to the point that his ability to cry and shed tears had become completely inert.

That became the final piece needed to shatter the chains that encased her emotional, for Nii Yugito it became too much for her to bear the fact that someone like this man could suffer so much and still find reason, so she fell to her knees and began crying uncontrollably.

During all this, it seemed that Nii and Kyu silenced their bickering upon seeing their bonded meet face-to-face, and noticed the physical and emotional interaction between their partners, and a silent message was relayed between then when they faced one another, and they left the two human sacrifices to lie in the comfort of each other.

For the fox and cat Organoid reached the same epiphany: these two were kindred spirits, the only ones whom could truly comprehend and understand one another. It became perfectly clear as they watched them both, as in their moment time seemed to lag, until it reached a slothful crawl.

For the next few minutes Yugito cried for two: for herself and for her fellow Jinchuuriki, whom had become traumatized to the point that he had become borderline immune to pain and unable to cry, Yugito wept for them both to last for what seemed to last a lifetime.

That lifetime turned into an eternity, when Yugito felt Naruto's hand brush a stray bang from her forehead, only to look her over with a knowing smirk that immediately dispelled all of her troubles, uplifted her spirits, and held her on the edge with anticipation as she watched him lick his lips and then lean forward…

It was a gentle yet electrifying kiss that erased every negative feeling and instilled a state of enlightenment for Nii Yugito, something between a gentle touch of pure innocence, and a voracious embrace of sinful lust. Having her first kiss being something tantamount to a mini-orgasm thus spoiled Yugito, she would never have eyes for any other male other than the one she was locked in passion with, only cementing Yugito's devotion towards Naruto. The words of her mother had come true, she was right in every sense of her prediction as now she would be blessed with a God shouldering even more pain than herself, that would end her suffering and bring her fulfillment…

However, despite the bliss Yugito was experiencing, the euphoria ended when the kiss did, and with the thought surrounding Naruto's role in helping her, came the straw that broke the camel's back. It all came to a head for Yugito: every bit of doubt and self-loathing that had been banished by that kiss came rushing back in a tidal wave, and now incensed by the concern of the one attempting to take her pain away.

What had been intended by Naruto as a distraction to take her attention away from whatever was easting away at her, a gesture off good intentions composed of the little amount of love and affection - every single scare bit of it that he managed to still hold onto in all honesty - only served to worsen Yugito's condition, as she began to cry with despair into the same spot on Naruto's she had earlier squealed in glee during their initial interaction..

'_I'm despicable!_', came Yugito's first reminder that she could also speak - albeit mentally - after doing nothing but think and feel, _'It's not fair! Why should __**I **__find happiness and peace in my God's embrace, when he __himself__ as a mortal has endured horrors that even the __**Shinigami **__would go insane from?!'_

Why made her so special for him to put her over himself, when right in front of her was a boy whom had only eight people in his entire village whom actually gave a damn if he lived to see the next tomorrow! That was eight people, eight in a village boasting a population numbering over ten thousand strong, all of whom - besides the aforementioned eight exceptions - were either vengeful extremists crying for his blood, apathetic fools whom sought to keep their distance from him, or naïve children whom adopted either of the first two policies towards Naruto.

In contrast to that kind of existence, her life was grand and lovely with very little to complain about, as Naruto had almost everybody in his world against him in a village that had terrorized him and contained him within said hell for all of his life.

Whereas for Yugito, her 'hell sentence' was much lighter in comparison, as the source of her bane was only a small minority of her village, the list of her offenders being just: the corrupt councilors, the Yotsuki clan members that weren't nice to her like Kirabi and the Raikage, the few assassins that were usually killed before coming with three meters of her, or the sparse few people whom had lost loved ones in the Nibi's accidental release and sealing, and a large portion of the Kumo Anbu corps.

While Naruto could count the number of people that genuinely cared for him with just both hands, Yugito had not only the Raikage, but she had Kirabi; his apprentices Samui, Omoi, and Karui; friendly Jonin like Shi, Jei, and Darui, Chunins and Genins that saw past her Jinchuuriki status, the Yotsuki clan members that were of the same opinion s the Raikage and Kirabi, and the civilians that weren't so foolish as to believe all the bullshit that the 'demon-haters' rambled about.

She felt sick, having believed herself condemned to the worst life that anyone had lived for quite some time, believing that truly the entire world hated her, but now before her was the challenge to that claim, no it was the true bearer of the title of 'Fate's Greatest Victim' that was with her, and he was trying to make her feel better. So far into her craze Yugito was, that she spontaneously reached towards her tool pouch in an attempt to take her own life.

'_I am not worthy!'_, was repeated over and over while doing this, as in her mind she had failed to serve and protect _her_ God, _her_ Naruto, from the unholy heretics of the unholy Village Hidden in the Leaves, so it was only fair that she take her own life to repent for her incompetence.

But before she could even grab the first kunai in her pouch, Yugito heard a sigh of reluctance and then felt Naruto's index and middle fingers press together against her forehead. Suddenly, her temporary suicidal insanity came to a grinding halt, a void that soon filled itself as she was then inexplicably overcome by a strong desire to lie down and fall asleep in Naruto's arms, and despite her protests against showing weakness in front of her God her emotions had left her too weak to fight off the drowsiness with sheer willpower. As her eyes started to close, she felt something being put onto her, and the last thing she heard was the spark of a flame and Naruto saying, "Rest, my angel…"

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

When Yugito finally came to, surprised that she had actually managed to fall asleep, she then blushed in embarrassment as she noticed that she had slept lying in the arms of her fellow Jinchuuriki and now God. She couldn't complain however, as despite her lack of a bed and a proper room to sleep in coupled with her erratic sleeping patterns, Yugito had never felt so refreshed and alive as she did now. Upon checking her surroundings - like she had done the first time waking up in this cave - Yugito noticed that they were not the only ones to follow the suggestion of sleeping together.

Yugito was at first surprised, and then highly amused at the sight of her feline Organoid, Nii, subconsciously snuggling into the side of her God's own vulpine Organoid, Kyuu, with both of their tails wrapping around their bodies to function as a makeshift blanket for themselves, chuckling and thinking, _'They truly do act like a married couple, spatting like archenemies when awake, and cuddling like honeymooners when asleep…'_

She was also surprised, and elated, by the position that the Zoids had taken, sure Yugito hadn't seen any interaction between her and her God's Zoids, it was evident that there had been something going on during either her unconsciousness or her sleep, as a little bit away from the entrance of the cave and poised to face any possible intruders, was her own Geno Hydra and Naruto's Des Genosaurer.

'_They're adorable!' _was in her opinion the most appropriate term for her to accurately describe them, what with how her own Geno Hydra had her head draped over the nape of the Des Genosaurer's neck, and the Des Genosaurer's right X-Breaker placed over the back of his Zoid companion, in the same position as one would wrap one arm around their lover when camping in a tent.

Most people forgot that Zoids were mechanical _life__-forms_, and not like the emotionless computers and mechanical devices that people incorrectly assumed them to be. _'Seriously, if swords and animals could talk and feel like humans do, isn't it also a possibility for Zoids to be no exception as well?'_, Yugito asked herself. And like human, Zoids did fall in love and mate, which was how new Zoids were produced.

It was still a mystery how the process worked, as you could never directly see Zoid's having sex or walk around pregnant - which many attributed to their known secrecy - although you could infer it from the way Zoids behaved when in love or having a newborn on the way.

Usually a Zoid in love would often get distracted and mess up in situations where normally they were flawless in execution when longing for another Zoid, or they would show such ferocity and vigor in their performance that jaws would drop when together with another Zoid.

Finding a Zoid 'couple' with a baby Zoid on the way was even more challenging to do, as a pregnant Zoid mother would not physically show anything like an abnormally large belly or a sudden drop in performance, but even the most violent and active female Zoids would inexplicably become reluctant to battle and prefer to do as little as possible, as well as suddenly consume excessive quantities of energy and chakra (when Bio-Gattaied) after becoming pregnant.

A male Zoid that learns of their impending fatherhood also do a complete 180, as originally they might act rather unconcerned and lazy as well as being very reasonable and understanding, only to pull a Hyde when expecting, suddenly they become as protective and supportive to their mates as allowed; often seeking to be as close to their Zoid mate for as long as possible and also getting everything they need, and at the same time exhibiting a habit of being as paranoid as fuck, sometimes even resorting to rampaging if anyone, Zoid _or_ pilot alike, approached their mate without his knowing and approval.

When a baby Zoid is born, most can't tell the difference between them and any other Zoid, as sure they might be slightly smaller than the adults and not look anything too different (except in certain cases of naturally born Zoids like Naruto's Des Genosaurer, whom actually managed to inherit some of the fixed weapons of his Zoid parents and looked only in base appearance as another Genosaurer would), newborn Zoids were almost as helpless as human and animal newborns.

They did not know the many things required to fight, fend, and forge for themselves, their fixed weapons were underdeveloped and weak [in comparison to their parents], and more often than not had trouble just simply not tripping on their own feet/paws. But usually Zoids born naturally could become more potentially powerful than one synthesized in a Zoid lab, and cross-breeding different Zoid species within the same type (and thus were compatible mates) produced Zoids that either carried strengths from both parents and/or eliminated weaknesses that their parents possessed.

Looking to the Hydra and Des, and then looking at Kyuu and Nii, Yugito pondered, _'Hm… I wonder, if Zoids can reproduce, does that mean Organoids can too?'_ The sudden image of Kyuu and Nii, surrounded by a frolicking young Organoid kits and kittens, nearly caused Yugito to squeal out loud in excitement, _'It would be wonderful… Hydra and Des having a little one, Kyuu and Nii with their own litter, and me and Naruto-ousama…'_

Yugito sighed in contentedness as she imagined one day a vision of herself with her God and a young boy that looked just like him, all happy just like the way she used to daydream of how her family might have been with herself, her mother Asuka, and her father Shinji. Resigning herself to sleep in her now favorite spot - within her God's warm embrace - Yugito mentally declared to herself, _'Naruto-ousama, I will stay at your side and bend to your whims, even if you become a monster… I will follow you faithfully and happily to the very end . Like the Angel that stays by the side of her God when descending into the cascading infernos of hell, I too will follow you through in whatever you plan for this world, I have no room for regrets or doubt, for I see your power is absolute. Henceforth, I am your __protector__, your __lover__, your __messenger__, I am __**your **__Angel__!'_

The last thoughts of our Nibi Jinchuuriki were actually spoken, and they left on a foreboding note that hinted at what was to come, "I shall see… your retribution be done, for it is the will of _**God**_."

~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~

And there we go!

Sorry I took longer than I promised, I had problems getting onto my account because some idiot that I know whom I share the computer with, cleared the passwords and auto complete forms saved in my CPU's database, and I also found out that they had somehow deleted a lot of the work I had done for this chapter and a couple of my new story scripts. So it was back to the drawing board for me.

I wanted to explore an interaction like that of Pein's and Konan's, since I find that kind of relationship funny… if not incredibly kinky, cause it would be very interesting to see Naruto and Yugito do a similar thing.

Also, Naruto and Pein will be addressed by their respective 'Angel' as 'Naruto-ousama' and 'Pein-ousama' instead of the traditional 'sama' honorific. In my opinion, a God would have a different if not an even higher addressing or form of respect, and the 'ousama' implies someone of having greater importance than one whom would normally be referred to in the traditional tone.

So that's it for now, I'll get right to work on the next chapter, I have some catching up to do!

_**AvatarofDeath13, over and out!**_


	4. Talk of the Town! The Race is On!

_Basic Text-Style Explanation_

**~Normal Text~**

**The black, demonic Berserk Fuhrer sniffed the lovely, gentle flowers.**

**MARKER= Regular Text**

**~Thoughts~**

'_**I hate you, AvaDe, you bat-shit loco, manipulative son of a bitch!'**_

**MARKER= **_**Italics**_

**~Dialogue~**

"**All your base are belong to us!"**

**MARKER= "Double-Quotation Marks"**

_**Special Text-Style Explanation**_

~Zoid-Speech~

"**You're avenger status is pissing me off, Uchiha Sasuke!**

MARKER= Underline and **Bold**

~Organoid-Speech~

"_I'll drown myself in sulfuric acid before I Gattai with a Molga!"_

MARKER= _Italics_ and Underline

~Demonic/Enhanced Speech~

"**I hate Molgas!"**

MARKER= "Double-Quotation Marks" & **Bold**

XOXOXOXOXOHOXOXOXOXOX

Good day to you, my brothers and sisters!

I, Avade, bestow upon you the next chapter in the Naruto: A Zoid's Tale, after several months of no updates!

If you want to know why, life is being a bitch, death is being a bastard, fate is being a whore, and all in that somewhere in the middle, a wombat is destroying a tank with nothing but it's natural weapons, in the middle of nowhere!

…okay, seriously, I was experiencing a wave of laziness in addition to my life, so I had little time to work on this chapter.

Just a heads up, my co-authors and fellow insaniacs: _HolyMage Mouto_ and _crimsonkyuubi_ have helped me in filling in some gaps in characters that will be needed, and a couple of their OC's will be seen!

I implore you all to try making up OC's with their Zoids, so long as they are reasonable and not insanely crazy and deadly… I mean, not everyone can have a Madthunder, right?

If you sent me a profile for your OC, and I haven't sent word or hinted at their appearance, it's likely I forgot about them, and a simple resending of those profiles will clear it all up!

Trust me, I like big stories with lots of characters, because then it makes the transition into new chapters harder without going one by one with each read, otherwise everyone would just skip ahead to the parts they want to read… which pisses me off for having to have bothered putting the effort into propping it up for you guys in the first place.

And please, no Yaoish-OC's, by this point in time you must have gotten at the very least, a hint as to my policy towards Yaoi, and if you haven't… you really shouldn't be reading my works then, shouldn't you?

This chapter isn't very filled with action, rather I designed it to have you people thinking ahead, as well as guessing what I'm going to be doing for the story in the near and far future…

And if you can catch the many subtle hints in the stories, well then good for you!

This chapter has a lot of dialogue that is left purposely ambiguous on who is talking, and I will do this very often to create suspense and have you posting up like two to ten reveiws on who you think is saying what, which is why I did it… I want more reviews.

More reviews means a more inspired me, and that means that the chances of increased frequency in updates and story length and quality jump as well!

Remember this kiddies, and you will last through the trials of my works!

Now, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Zoids, they belong to their respective owners!

Private Disclaimer: Every time Madara smiles, another Uchiha rolls in his grave… yeah, that's it, I'm too lazy to make up a friggin competent disclaimer, so if you're not down with that… I have two words for you:

SUCK IT!!!

~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~

The cawing of a random - and rather _annoying_ - Pteras signaled the start of a morning for the mechanic and parts dealer that lived in this part of the Jungle Country, which for the ill-informed, translated to the land that was the home of the former glorious Village Hidden in the Grass, otherwise known as Kusagakure. Despite his immediate misgivings about having to be awoken, this man knew it deep within his heart that there was no avoiding the daily activities that had become his life.

In reality, each day was nothing more than another repeat of the day before it - save a few minor changes in whom came around and what for - but in general it was just an endless chain. Every morning, he would be woken up by the same damn Pteras, grumble for ten minutes about wanting to sleep in, then eventually getting up and showering, then clothing himself, then preparing breakfast, then performing his daily physical and Zoid-riding exercises, then going to his nearby shop that functioned as a parts dealership/repair & maintenance workshop for the workday, taking a break to get lunch in between shifts - funny, seeing as he was the only one whom worked there - and the occasional powernap, and finally closing up to go home, eat dinner, shower again, spend a little free time doing whatever, before finally going to sleep to start the next repeat of the cycle.

To most - that weren't related to the Nara Clan of Konoha, the only exception whom would also share the same opinion as this man - a life _that __dull_ would sooner beget suicide faster than one could say 'Looping', however, to one Sorahane Kagami a life that simple and uneventful was '**just right**.'

A man of thirty-four years, Kagami was not overly large as one would expect a former native of Kumogakure - yes, no one could deny he had muscle, and Kagami most certainly did not appear scrawny by any definition of the word - but his muscle mass and stature were not overtly great, at the very least not to make him look like someone from the Yotsuki clan. With his physical build, Sorahane Kagami would not seem altogether unusual, ironically however his hair style and eye color in conjunction made up for that - in spades, one might add.

In fact, it was his exotic appearance that made him more noteworthy than his Shinobi record made him out to be. With Kagami's eye-catching look, one would be drawn to look at him when flipping through the Bingo Book, often his appearance became a subject of rumors - both serious and ridiculous - especially, seeing as it was a style rarely - if ever, in all honesty - adopted by a ninja.

Like the former Uchiha heir Uchiha Itachi, Kagami kept his hair in a low ponytail to keep it out of the way of his vision, and having bangs that framed his face which combined with his facial creases gave him a sort of grave appearance and making his likeness to the Uchiha with the namesake 'Weasel' that more noticeable.

"It's damn becoming an issue, as it's already something I regularly loathe!" Kagami growled to himself, and it was becoming an annoying subject of rumor for him nowadays, seeing as the damn Uchiha nuke-nin was slowly growing more like Kagami in appearance as he grew older, and many a people came all the way out here to find him, just to ask him if he was in fact Itachi's father… a phenomena that wasn't rare enough in Kagami's opinion.

'_I'd remember for sure if I slept with an Uchiha… cause the chances of me having fathered that nutcase, are the same as Yugito-chan having the Sharingan!' _And that wasn't likely to happen… Kagami knew personally that Yugito had gone through more life-threatening situations in a typical month, than a platoon of Kumo's Anbu did in a year, and Sharingan would have by all accounts activated by this time, and so Kagami knew a safe bet when he saw one. Hell it's why he's been able to live on his lousy income: he had the luck of the devil, and often regularly cleaned out the poker tournaments at Kusa's famous casinos.

As he looked in the mirror and took in his ruffled appearance, another oddity of Kagami which now would normally not be noticeable - as if his similarity to another infamous Shinobi wasn't enough - is his (in comparison to his ex-fellow Kumo villagers) skin tone. Kagami's skin complexion bore a slightly mild tan, which - while not altogether rare in other places like Suna or Konoha - was an incredible rarity in Kumo where almost the entire collective of people consisted of either dark or pale-skinned residents, a trait Kagami shared with his blond-haired sixteen-year old troublemaker of a godchild Yugito, whom he remembered he was due to visit in the next month.

To add to the abnormal appearance of a former villager of Kumo, Kagami's hair color was an unorthodox combination of a primary color base of sky blue, with a few secondary-highlights of white in the form of streaks that were - to the opinion of whatever misguided Deity [cough_**or**__**loony**__**co-writers**_cough] that designed Kagamai - randomly scattered throughout his hair as a whole.

In fact, the only known residents of Kumo with hairs of any kind of light blue or white were those bearing relation to Kagami, the entirety of which had become borderline extinct by this point in time, save the only other relative of Kagami's that was of noteworthy attention: one of the Genin on the team of Kumo's Hachibi Jinchuuriki, Yotuski Kirabii's own Omoi. Thinking about him, Kagami idly recalled that he would have to visit Kumo very soon, seeing as he had missed Omoi's last birthday, and Omoi was one of the very few whom actually tried to befriend his antisocial goddaughter.

That, and like Kagami, the young Omoi was also orphaned, although unlike Kagami whom remained a self-raised orphan for all of his life - a depressing scenario that was unfortunately becoming much too common nowadays - Omoi was 'unofficially' adopted by Kirabii; he had been raised alongside his lifelong friends and teammates Samui and Karui, which basically meant: that they were by every means Kirabii's kids and Yotsuki clan members… only that the dark-skinned and blond-haired fan of colloquialism was too damn friggin lazy and childish to _properly_ file in the blasted paperwork for the actual authentication of their adoption.

'_I mean, come on!'_, the immediate in response to that train of thought that Kagami thought, _'Every time he files in anything involving paperwork, he does completely unnecessary and extremely retarded things, like writing instead of his actual name, he puts down in the required field: 'Jinchuuriki-sama and Hachibi-sama', which makes even less sense seeing as that refers to two people, and actually writing the reports in __**rhyming **__verse__!!!'_

And the truly ironic part about Kirabii's half-assed adoption of his Genin: the attitude the Yotsuki clan held in relation to Kirabii's unofficial adoption of his Genin team. While normally, they could be as obstinate and uncooperative as the Hyuuga of Konoha towards allowing outsiders into their clan, in this case the Yotsuki's at worst could have cared less, and at best even approved and promoted Kirabii's adoption of them, and Kagami sometimes wondered if all that power had actually gone to their heads, and now they believed whatever they did make them look better!

"_Then again_…", Kagami mumbled to himself with obvious humor, "…Kirabii is the proverbial _purple __ram_ in a clan where **black ****sheep**are a rarity alone, which makes him the proverbial slap in the face towards the majestic image promoted by the clan."

"Hell, anything he does that doesn't include nor involve _rapping_, _dancing_, _writing_ _rhymes_, which basically translates to basically everything Kirabii - and which is, according to recent studies, the leading factor in the rising number of people moving away from Kumo - would be seen as a redeeming quality, in what would be an otherwise _hopeless_ case for the Yotsuki clan."

"I _almost_ feel sorry for the damn bastards, having to wake up _every __**day**_ and watch that menace drive people into the mental asylums and tarnish their carefully-constructed reputation… but I think my spite towards those bastards for what they did to Yugito-chan and her parents outweighs my pity for them…"

The sudden snarl that Kagami released only expressed a fraction of the emotions that were centered around the subject of the Yotsuki clan, more specifically the atrocious acts that they committed in the name of power that had ended up costing his best friend Nii Shinji his life, turning Nii Yugito into a pariah, and assassinating Nii Asuka in the hopes of turning Yugito into their personal weapon. The Yotsuki clan was the source of everything that Kagami hated about Kumo, they were the ones that made him so sick of his village that he retired somewhat earlier than he originally expected, and they were the most likely reason Kagami might ever decide to aid Kumo's enemies in annihilating the village, as they had cost him his two closest friends and the only chance for his goddaughter to have a somewhat normal life.

Yugito's parents had been Kagami's only friends during their time at the Kumo ninja academy, and the only people Kagami could trust with anything that was troubling him. After graduating and - with no small amount of pleasure - finding himself on the same Genin team as Shinji and Asuka, Kagami and his two teammates made a name for themselves, with their power and teamwork leading to their recognition as Kumo's equivalent of the Densetsu no Sannin.

'And just like the Sannin, our team were as closely knit as teammates could get, hell I saw them as my surrogate siblings. I lost track of the number of times I found myself playing the role of the middle man, and ergo **peacemaker**, between Shinji and Asuka's fights. And those were almost always one-sided: damn Shinji was too much of a gentleman to chastise or harm Asuka beyond what was typical of a spar, and unfortunately for him Asuka did not pull her insults… _or_ her punches, damn volatile redhead was a Tsunade in the making, temperament included…'

As a veteran of the Third Great Ninja War, Kagami was no stranger to losing the people he cared for, it was an occurrence much too often for Kagami's liking, especially seeing as he was still alive after all his friends had been killed, it even became a sort of superstition concerning him: if any mission that Kagami is on - and isn't in charge - goes out of control, the only survivor expected to live and tell the tale of what went wrong would be Kagami himself.

But it was the loss of his best friends that struck him hardest, seeing as Kagami had never had a real significant other, as all the potential ones had been killed in wartime, by an assassin ninja from an enemy village, or on a mission that backfired horribly. The death of Shinji and Asuka, coupled with the treatment that Yugito was receiving from the village, was what led to his resignation… as otherwise, his only option would have been to go on a rampage and be put down before he ended up destroying the entirety of Kumo, and all of it's vile scum that called themselves villagers. After he retired, Kagami moved around like a hermit, searching for an appropriate place to settle down and hide away from the world that he had slowly grown to despise, which is how he ended up here in the first place.

The Jungle Country was usually only recognized for being a wedge that separates the borders of the Countries of Fire, Earth, Storm, and Stream, each of which with their own Hidden Village. Like Jungle housed the Shinobi of Kusa, the other countries along with their Daimyo's held the allegiance of their own Shinobi and Kunoichi of their respective villages.

Everyone knew Fire Country was home to Konohagakure, Earth Country sheltered Iwagakure, both of whom were well- established 'giants' in the ninja world, and the other two - while less renown than the former two, were prosperous nonetheless - villages Amegakure and Takigakure claimed their mark in the countries of Storm and Stream respectively.

But many often forgot that Jungle Country - and ergo, Kusagakure - existed specifically between these staunch rivals, and in fact Jungle was often ignored or omitted from classification as a country with a Hidden Village by a great majority of people. And seeing as this, combined with the lack of manpower for Kusagakure to really do anything to someone at Kagami's level other than pester him with empty threats, it made for the perfect location for Kagami to settle down.

And yet… Kagami couldn't help but feel restless… like he simply wasn't ready for retirement, despite his incredible desire to leave it all behind. This was something all to common, Kagami learned, that affected any sort of warrior trained in some form of combat, whom retired early in their career as a result of issues in life, and it was even more prevalent in veterans of war. Even after wanting nothing to do with his former career as a ninja, Kagami still felt that innate drive to battle, and deep down… Kagami wanted to experience the thrill of battle…

===X===X===X Chapter 04: Talk of the Town X===X===X===

In this particular clearing, the mechanical sound of Zoids moving could be heard, and upon a closer glance the individual Zoids responsible looked very much alike, seeing as they were both part of the Genosaurer variety. Each one stood out amongst the scenery, and would more than likely still stand out if they were hypothetically placed amongst an entire army of Geno-Type Zoids.

The first resembled the Genosaurer in a way… if the Genosaurer had a blue/green based armor color, was longer in length and shorter in height, and overall looked generally more streamlined in it's design. So in reality, it wasn't a Genosaurer, but it was certainly of the Geno-Type, as why else would it have anchors on it's feet that was synonymous with the use of a Charged Particle Cannon. But then again, Zoid-selling rip-off artists often would put anchors on Theropoda-Theme Zoids, so as to fool buyers into thinking the Zoid they were going to buy was an actual real Genosaurer.

But the blue/green Genosaurer look-alike also had one more detail that sealed it's authenticity: the strange small cannon-like weapon stored within the mouth of the mysterious blue/green Geno-Type Zoid. Even if you had never seen what the cannon looked like personally, any Zoid pilot or Ninja-Z worth their salt would be able to spot and identify that weapon.

After all: as the saying goes, "A Zoid can look like a Genosaurer, it can walk like a Genosaurer, it can fight, kick, and bite like a Genosaurer, it can even have anchors and brace itself for a powerful backlash like a Genosaurer, but if it doesn't have a Charged Particle Cannon, it's only an imposter. But if you see a Zoid with that kind of weapon in it's mouth, you had better pray that you aren't on their radar scope, because that's the real deal, not that you'll live long enough to tell about it…"

The second Zoid that accompanied the first looked more like the true model of a Genosaurer, yet it too could not claim to be a normal Genosaurer - if Genosaurers were common enough to be denoted with the term normal, and in a relative sense of the word - as it possessed some variations in it's own design. Unlike the normal Genosaurer, which had a dark-violet armor color with lavender - or in rare cases, brick red - paneling, this particular Geno-Type Zoid possessed an onyx colored armor with sangria colored paneling, and orange as well as goldenrod runic markings that covered various portions of the Zoid.

In addition to that, the normal Genosaurer was equipped with a Laser Gun mounted on it's forehead, and a [Double] Long Range Pulse Laser Rifle mounted on it's back, however this Zoid lacked both of those weapons. Instead of a Laser Gun, the Zoid had a foldable Laser Charging Blade mounted on it's head, and instead of the Long Range Pulse Laser Rifle on it's back, the Zoid instead possessed a Thruster Pack with two menacing large multi-functional claws mounted on two extendable arms attacked to the Thruster Pack that were nicknamed X-Breakers.

Not only that, but the Zoid also had a large variety of fixed weapons that did not come as part of the normal Genosaurer, and seemed to have come from a variety of both Geno _and_ Fuhrer-Type Zoids. Firstly noticeable were the two Weapon Binders that were mounted on the sides of each of it's legs, with the Weapon Binders acting as a combination armament, which of itself consisted of three individual weapons: the AZ 140mm Shock Gun, the 80mm Beam Gun, and finally the Micro Poison Missile Pod, all of which together could be fired independently or together if desired.

The other visible weapon on this Zoid that did not follow the normal trend of what a Genosaurer possessed happened to be what resembled two smaller-scale versions of the X-Breakers, except the larger versions were attached to the Thruster Pack mounted on the Zoid's back, whereas the smaller versions were attached and mounted onto the shoulders of the Zoid's small arms.

These smaller versions even had extendable arms like the larger X-Breakers, and seeing as the claws 'hand' faced the front of the Zoid when at rest, combined with the claws folding back like the Laser Charging Blade on the Zoid's head, it gave viewers the impression that the claws served as a warning that it would strike at anyone that came too close. In fact, the claws themselves could actually vibrate extremely quickly, which in actuality served to increase the lethality of the claws themselves, but when vibrating while at rest, the smaller X-Breakers would simply give off a strange humming sound. Not to mention that the smaller claws possessed Jamming Blade technology that could stop and destroy Zoids with just a single precise hit.

As any enemy unfortunate enough to find themselves in front of this Zoid and close enough to melee, the claws would lunge forward very quickly, and thus take out it's intended prey before they could even react. Thus, those claws could actually relate the Zoid to a rattlesnake, as both the Zoid and the rattlesnake could and did use a certain part of their boy to emanate a sound that served to warn intruders (the rattle for the rattlesnake, and the hum for this Zoid), and if agitated could strike faster than one could anticipate, and by that means deal a single quick - and often fatal blow - with that single strike.

All in all, these two Zoids were definitely not Genosaurers, as could be plainly seen with all of the before mentioned differences, so what were they? The blue/green Geno-Type Zoid was actually a Geno Hydra, a rarity even among the few notable instances of people possessing any Geno-Type Zoids, and it's partner would be something that people couldn't automatically identify, seeing as it was- at the moment - one of a kind model known as the Des Genosaurer, and both - along with their respective pilots Yugito and Naruto, and their respective Organoids Nii and Kyuu - were in Waterfall Country, on their way to pass into Jungle Country.

Not as lush with vegetation as Jungle Country, Waterfall Country nonetheless had a surprising variety of flora and fauna, with some rare animals and the occasional exotic Zoid such as the Dimetroptera or the Styluarmor, but then again there had to be some explanation as to how Takigakure was famed for never having been invaded, especially if the proclaimed unassailable Village Hidden in a Waterfall had easy access to such exotic wild Zoids as these.

In fact, Takigakure was known specifically for it's Mode-Zoids, which were the Zoids that had two or more different battle forms, which could be easily switched between by the Zoids whenever desired, and it's Fuzor-Zoids, which could actually do a Gattai similar to the pilot/Zoid Bio Gattai, which allowed certain Zoids to combine into a new Zoid more formidable than both could have been when separate.

One known famous example was the famous ex-Taki Ninja-Z known as Kakuzu, whom was feared for his incredible mini-army of Fuzor-Zoids that could combine at separate at Kakuzu's command to form scarily strong Zoids like the Chimera Dragon or the Matrix Dragon, and if need be his ace in the hole: Gojulox. The power of the Gojulox spoke for itself when it became known that Kakuzu lost a confrontation with the Shodaime Hokage, however the simple fact that Kakuzu lived to tell of the tale, whom would later be punished and jailed unjustly for his failure.

Only Kakuzu would later escape, and in vengeance kill all the people that had ordered for his imprisonment, and inexplicably using them to somehow be able to control more than six Fuzor-Zoids at a time (normally the max that a single living pilot could support in a Local Bio-Gattai Network was at most six Zoids, with one human-piloted Zoid and five unmanned or computer-controlled Zoids). And the fact that somehow Kakuzu was still alive and kicking to this day, and from the rumors among the bounty hunters, he had not weakened a single bit despite being older than the Sandaime Hokage…

Now, why were Yugito and Naruto in Waterfall Country to begin with? Apparently, with Yugito's information and assistance Naruto had anticipated that they would be hunted down like dogs by their respective villages, and would have to plan some way to lose their hounds without having to endlessly face and fight tooth and nail with and each and every Anbu or Hunter-Nin squad sent after them, which Naruto knew would only end up getting them both killed… or worse. And with a little assured help from Yugito, Naruto had devised a plan to lose their trackers temporarily, so as to at the least give themselves an open window to make their next move.

Simply, Naruto and Yugito left too many tracks and leads for even two or three Anbu or Hunter-Nin squads to be able to fully follow, without at least taking a significant of time to investigate each and every one, which they would have to do, seeing as otherwise they would have to return home empty-handed, and their village councils would not be fond of their failures.

First, while they had remained in the neutral country between Fire Country and Lightning Country, both Naruto and Yugito took it upon themselves to openly ask for information and 'mentioned' where they might be headed and what the planned to do, and each every story was similar and yet different at the same time: several times they claimed to be 'travel-loving' newlyweds, and they were on their way to Rice Country, celebrating their honeymoon by touring and seeing the sights; in other instances they claimed to be siblings, and that they were heading to Tea Country in search of their family, whom they were separated from during a violent storm; and on one occasion, they claimed to be a God and his Angel, destined to go to Rain Country in order to face a rival God and his devotee (unknown to Naruto and Yugito, two people adorned in black cloaks with red-clouds, whom were a certain orange spiky-haired man and a blue short-haired woman, both just happened to simultaneously sneeze somewhere far away when that remark was made), each and every one were random and yet not too obvious.

Eventually, they had managed to hitch a ride on a company-owned Zoid carrier, after saving the life of the company's owner from the local mob, and eventually found themselves in Water Country, which allowed them to start the next part of their plan. From the stories that Yugito had heard of, the time they arrived on their particular island in Water Country coincided with the decennial gathering of renown artists, actors, musicians, and sculptors for a special exhibition known as the Zoidiad.

Similar to the Chunin Exams, the Zoidiad only occurred after a time interval has passed, in this case being ten years, and it changed placed in where it took place after every exhibition. The exhibition itself held little interest for Eisen Dragoon despite it's notoriety, however Yugito soon discovered that something about it had interested Naruto, and later learned just how crafty and thought-out Naruto could be after he explained the next stage of the plan to her.

First, Naruto and Yugito took advantage of being privy to the knowledge of an attack by money-hungry missing nins that would attack the people at the competition to prepare to mount an offense, and due to the lack of hired ninjas to protect the competition - seeing as never before had any rouge ninja attempted to raid the revered competition - they would have been basically doomed. However, right before the raiding missing ninja could do any serious harm, Yugito and Naruto showed up 'just in the nick of time' and proceeded to demolish the missing ninja.

The true devilry of Naruto's genius became apparent in how he anticipated the reaction of the people to their being rescued: they celebrated Yugito and Naruto's selfless acts and treated them like heroes, and after seeing their Organoids and Naruto's rune-covered Des Genosaurer - the majesty of which gave several custom-Zoid designers there an orgasm induced by what they saw - later came to see them as the God and Angel Yugito proclaimed them to be (seeing as she would always refer to Naruto as a God and she his Angel, every time she asked just what exactly he and she were). Expecting their desire to find some way to rewards their saviors, Naruto gave them a request that also substituted as a challenge, something that not only appealed to their desire to reward their saviors but also fueled their drive at what they would consider a true example of a masterpiece.

The first part of the request consisted of a competition to see whom could create the best life-sized replica bust of the Geno Hydra and the Des Genosaurer, with the best having each detail down to the very last small runic symbol on the Des Genosaurer, which the sculptors were more than happy to accept. The second part consisted of a kabuki play about two heroes whose design drew inspiration from themselves, even so much as to have the two characters match their physical appearances, even so much as having costumes to play out the roles of their Organoids, the production and performance of which the actors and playwrights strived to perform.

The third request tied in with the first and the second, with the request being that they ensure to spread the word by traveling with the Zoid busts and the kabuki play, which was almost unnecessary, seeing as after every Zoidiad exhibition, the works and plays that were produced and their creators went around the Elemental Countries showcasing the results. Yugito then realized what Naruto intended: with all the busts of their Zoids and plays with actors to look like them traveling around, it would make trying to find the real them practically impossible, what with the only thing to go by in searching for them being their own appearances and the last sightings of what their Zoids looked like.

The last request however confused Yugito, as it had nothing to do with securing their anonymity, and it was made to the Zoid-designers with certain instructions and requirements that made no sense. Some of the requirements be that the Zoid be able to act as a mobile base, that it be large enough to carry other smaller Zoid carriers, that it had to be amphibious, that it could house at least a hundred individuals with their own private quarters at minimum, and that was only the obscure things that Yugito could make sense of, after all, what was so important to her God that he constantly emphasized on making sure the Zoid was bright 'kill-me' orange?

That was about three weeks ago, and two weeks after they left Water Country, which also coincided with the time that their pursuers arrived to look for them, just as Naruto had predicted, and during the next two weeks till now, Naruto and Yugito had gone on a crisscross adventure around the neutral and minor countries, confusing whatever few remaining pursuers that had managed to tail them up to that point, because to them it seemed like they were trying to shake them off with no end in sight.

In reality, Naruto was just trying to kill for time, yet not once did he explain in full detail what he had planned to Yugito, but really that was only because she never asked, always preferring to follow 'Naruto-ousama' unquestionably, and really she was enjoying her newfound freedom… as well as being on a wild adventure with the guy that had changed her life for the better.

Yes, she knew he had something big planned, but Yugito by now had become very familiar with how Naruto thought and acted, and it would only take a few more weeks before Yugito completely knew Naruto to the point that they would not even have to talk to know what the other was thinking, similar to their paralleled counterparts from Ame, whom unknown to them were stumped in trying to locate them. And not just them, disregarding the norm of Anbu and Hunter-Nin squads that were tracking them, there were several groups and teams of individuals that were searching for Naruto and Yugito, and it would only be matter of time before they crossed paths.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Yo my peeps and sheeps, masters of disasters, diggas of the nig…!

"Sensei, I'll emasculate you if you finish that line!"

"………"

"That's much better."

"Wow you're cranky. Did your enormous breasts get so heavy that you're suffering PMS earlier than expected?"

"Shut the hell up, you obnoxious pervert!"

"Why are you complaining? Your anthills aren't even big enough to feed mice, so you have nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about?! I'll show you something to worry about!"

"… See. Your missed, ergo, your aims sucks. Just like your mouth does when the missions aren't paying well…"

"I don't give fucking blowjobs, dammit! I have a job!"

"And you lack a brain in that empty hollow barrel of hot air you call a head, while my head is nice and full."

"Well, maybe you should get out here so I can tear off **yours**!"

"Which one? I have to point out, however, that it'd be a very unfair match, seeing as both of my heads combined are bigger than both of yours."

"What… the fuck, does that even mean?!"

"Didn't you just challenge me to a cockfight?"

"What the fuck are you on?! I didn't say that! And just were would we get the damn chickens needed to fight in one?"

"Well, I'm assuming this from learning about anatomy, but we already have our tools installed."

"Have you been smoking Sensei's bong again?! That's disgusting, that's not a cockfight, that's just sick what you just said… hey wait a minute! Did you just call me a guy?!"

"You can't blame me. You're breasts are so flat that you make walls jealous. Your actions are too aggressive to make you a tomboy, and it doesn't help your image that your appearance makes you look _less _of a **woman** and _more_ of a **man**."

"Come back here and say that again! I'll tear it off, and then you can tell me how it is to feel l**ess** of a **dick** and more like a dickless!"

"Butt pirate."

"Bullshit artist!"

"Jesibel."

"Bush!"

"Okama."

"Lolicon!"

"Shut the fuck up both of you, or I'm going to tie you both naked to a tree and send the tree to Iwa!"

"…"

"…"

"She got you good."

"Fuck you, Sensei."/"Fuck you, Sensei!"

"Now that the children have finally quit bitching, I can tell Sensei what we found."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Mada…"

"No! Don't call me by that name! Remember, we have to go by our codenames!"

"…this is embarrassing… uberEMShax0r… "

"No! It's uberEMShax0r-sama!"

"(Sigh) …uberEMShax0r-sama. Why do we have to use codenames again?"

"I'm glad you asked $uper$am$ara$age$! We are all part of our secret organization, and thus we can't just go out spilling our identities to the public!"

"…and why did you decide to call our organization's codename…"

"COCK BALL UDDER?! What dumbass kind of fucking name is that?"

"Well, I didn't want to make an anagram using our group's name, and besides… the anagram generator on wordsmith couldn't turn anything decent up when I typed it in. So I took the three most obvious words I could think of about our group."

"And that was…?"

"Black, red, cloud."

"And you used…"

"Well, I did the smartest thing, which was to pick the first word I found, which was Ballcock Udder, then I simply switched it around so that nobody would suspect us. I mean, come on! It's pretty ingenious!"

"It's also pretty stupid…"

"Well I say that's our group's name's codename, and what I say goes! Understand?"

"Well, can we at least use anagrams for our names if we're going to use anagrams at all?"

"No. I tried that before, it sucked like hell! Most of everyone's names couldn't produce any feasible anagram, in fact only our resident 'God' turned up a passable name."

"…what is it?"

"…pine."

"Yeah… I think we'll stick to your dumb codenames…"

"Excellent! Now we do role call. $uper$ick$am$ara$age$?"

"Here……… pine?!"

"xxbleach~rose~paperxx?"

"…here."

"2xOmnOmnOmx2?"

"_Here!_/**Here**!"

"Jaws-Lurkin~Under~You"

"Hehehe… here!"

"Weasels~Illusion~World609?"

"…present."

"MoneyMadne$$"

"Here. Where's my 50,000 ryou?"

"XJashinXSamaXFTW!!!X?"

"FUCK YOU!!!"

"…kay. "Master=Of=Puppets?"

"Here. How long is this going to take?!"

"Almost done. Last but not least, !Artis%aBANG!?"

"Hell fucking yeah it is, un!"

"Very good, we are all present! Now, $uper$ick$am$ara$age$, I believe you mentioned that the boy has your Doujutsu?"

"That I did, Ze- I mean, 2xOmnOmnOmx2, was able to get a very good look at the boy, and he could tell that the appearance of his eyes were not a mere trick of the light."

"I see… and I suppose you want to see if you can persuade him to join our group?"

"…yes."

"…very well."

"…that's it, un?! No argument?! No conniption fit?! No ranting about your secret evil plan involving the Bijuu Zoids and their Jinchuuriki that must be carried out exactly as designed?! Not even a growl?!"

"!Artis%aBANG!, I never said our plans were set in stone, having lived as long as I have, I've learned that sometimes you have to be flexible, and bend over…"

"Stop, un! Do NOT finish that sentence, or I swear I'll use my prototype C5 on you!"

"…you have a C5?!!!"

"Yup, un!"

"I bet you're just bluffing!"

"Do you really want to find out?"

"…no, no I definitely don't, I'd prefer to keep myself intact, thank you very much. Getting back to what I was TRYING to say before I was so rudely INTERRUPTED, we need the power of the Bijuu Zoids, but I never stated that we needed them in their raw unsealed form. No, if anything, it would make our goal that much easier if we had the Jinchuuriki working with us…"

"Excuse me, Mizukage-sama?"

"Jaws-Lurkin~Under~You, didn't I tell you not to call me by that title, do you see a stupid piece of headwear and dumb robes on me?"

"Actually, uberEMShax0r-sama, about that…"

""Weasels~Illusion~World609, I was asking a rhetorical question. Now, Jaws-Lurkin~Under~You, what was it you wanted to ask?"

"How do you intend to gather the Jinchuuriki? I mean, last we heard, every single one of them had fled their villages, and they could be anywhere right about now!"

"Simple, my carnivorous friend, we use the Jinchuuriki to flush out the Jinchuuriki."

"…in a language we can understand, please?"

"…sigh, why must I explain everything? Okay, here's what's going to happen…"

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Hello my loyal assistant, tell me… what news have you discovered from Konoha?"

"Yes Oro.."

"Tut tut tut, must I remind you not to refer to me by my name out in the open? I'm number one in the Bingo Book's Most Wanted, and I can't risk having my movements tracked. You know that blasted former teammate of mine has his spy network, and they could be listening in on us!"

"I apologize Otokage-Sama, getting back to my report, my sources have informed me that Mizuki failed his mission to acquire the exotic Zoid, just as you had intended."

"And the old buzzard that was my former teacher, is he still under the premise that he is onto my plans?"

"Yes, he is completely fooled into believing that he has you figured out. Although there is a complication, and I do not know how…"

"Just spill out the words, you sneaky little excuse of a Medic-Nin! It's not like I'm some bastard that will kill you just because I'm a sadistic bastard that is a megalomaniac whom seeks immortality, and generally wishes to see the suffering of others!"

"About that…"

"I was speaking in rhetorical, now be a man and tell me what's so important that you're dancing around with words!"

"Otokage-sama… he has left the village."

"…run that by me again?"

"He left! The details are so hush-hush that I barely got any word of it, I actually had to do some investigation of my own to confirm it! It's true! He is no longer within the borders of Konohagakure."

"That idiot! Didn't I raise him to think ahead?! I mean, without a Zoid that he can't Bio-Gattai with, he's simply a giant bullseye!"

"…actually, about that…"

"Oh great, more good news, I hope…"

"Actually sir, it is in my opinion. It appears our little maelstrom has been planning this departure for quite some time, if I can say it in my opinion, he's been waiting for this moment for a few years now…"

"…I take back my words, it seems he has gotten more crafty, I bet that he even expected me to pull something like this, and then capitalized on it."

"Believe it or not, sir, but that actually is what happened."

"Well, I guess that is a little more relieving, but I'm still concerned about him in some inadequate Zoid…"

"Otokage-Sama… he didn't take just any Zoid… he took the Zoid that you had warned me about."

"You mean…?!"

"Yes… he left and took both his Organoid and the Des Genosaurer."

"This is perfe…"

"That's not all, sir."

"…more good news, I hope?"

"Surprisingly, it wouldn't seem that way at first, but upon reading more into it…"

"Say it, for the love of Kami!"

"The monkey and the warhawk have sent at least one ninja after the maelstrom."

"…dammit, well I trust Danzo's intentions, he's probably either sending one of his Anbu Ne, or another one of his pet projects…"

"That is correct, sir, also the Anbu that the monkey sent aren't meant to harm the maelstrom, they're meant to protect and guide it… also not necessarily back to the village, it seems. I haven't gotten the info on who was sent, seeing as I left Konoha to inform you of this before I could acquire that bit of information…"

"I see, no matter! Now, do you still have a channel by which to contact… her?"

"…um, yes sir! But are you sure…"

"Yes, she owes me her life, and if anything… she'll revere him as much as she does me… do not worry, he is a strong boy… I raised him and taught him, and if he's anything like I believe he is… he will have trouble surviving long enough for me and him to reunite… not to worry, all in due time…"

~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~

And there you go!

The next chapter will be coming sometime in the near future, seeing as I've gotten back into the funk of writing fanfiction, so it's hopeful that the next chapter will be more exciting and interactive, but then again…

Everyone needs to do a little plot development every now and then, and I am no exception!

So, with my parting words being said, damn you Yaoi Fangirls, and praise be to harems!

Oh yeah, I'm going to put on my profile a petition for Fanfiction(dot)Net to place a yaoi filter on the story filters! I'm sick and tired of seeing it when it's not wanted, and if you agree with me, then leave a review or a message saying that you want to sign on the petition!

Hopefully, we'll have enough names soon for me to live long enough to see that filter… lest I die from excessive vomiting… damn Yaoi fangirls…

_**AvatarofDeath13, over and out!**_


	5. Growth of Bonds! Old Faces Revealed!

_**Basic Text-Style Explanation**_

~Normal Text~

The black, demonic Berserk Fuhrer sniffed the lovely, gentle flowers.

MARKER= Regular Text

~Thoughts~

'_I hate you, AvaDe, you bat-shit loco, manipulative son of a bitch!'_

MARKER= _Italics_

~Dialogue~

"All your base are belong to us!"

MARKER= "Double-Quotation Marks"

As well as...

_**Special Text-Style Explanation**_

~Zoid-Speech~

"**You're avenger status is pissing me off, Uchiha Sasuke!**

MARKER= Underline and **Bold**

~Organoid-Speech~

"_I'll drown myself in sulfuric acid before I Gattai with a Molga!"_

MARKER= _Italics_ and Underline

~Demonic/Enhanced Speech~

"**I hate Molgas!"**

MARKER= "Double-Quotation Marks" & **Bold**

XOXOXOXOXOHOXOXOXOXOX

Once again, after a notable hiatus, I, AvatarofDeath13 (or to my cronies, Avade), have updated the next chapter in Naruto: A Zoids Tale, and once again I reiterate that it has been several months since my last update (which, ironically, also took several months to get up to doing and eventually posting)!

If you need to direct the blame on anyone, blame…. Guff. Seriously, I have so much going on in my life, what with preparing and deciding on what college I intend to apply to (seeing as it will affect what careers - and ergo, lifestyle - that I would be allowed the chance to experience or work towards), maintaining my grades, stuffing extensive review and studying down for my exams, and sleeping/eating/maintaining a physique that is somewhat attractive (I'm not a workout maniac, but I at least like to stay in shape to make my long-distance commuting more practical, really), so all in all, it's a very big thing.

Now, on another note, to increase the amount of words in my chapters, so as to make it easier to find my stories in the anime/manga section of the Fanfiction(.)Net community, I will once again bring back something that I had previously left behind: answering reviews! If anything, it will get you people to flame me or something, which will add one more review in my count, and really… some of the best authors have incredibly large review counts on their stories, many of which are made of… guest what?

That's right: flames! At least… not the actual fiery plasma that burns people and makes wood useful and paper lovely when it frustrates you… oh, sorry, my desire to increase my word count is making me write extensively longer for no reason other than to get more attention, like this very sentence I am typing at the moment, which will seem stupid now, but later on you will come back and read this sentence, and think: '…oh, now I get what he was saying! Hah!', but I digress, and once again, before I get distracted, I will repeat myself: I am restarting my policy of answering reviews and comments.

If you're wondering why I am suddenly updating out of the blue, let me tell you this: …have you been following the Naruto manga lately? The reason I even began delving into fan fiction was because of Naruto, and that expanded my interests into other series, and let me tell you: it's not for the reason one might assume I have 'woken up', one might say. I am wholly impressed with Masashi Kishimoto's ability to keep people hanging on his work, and better yet: he manages to keep people onto his story, despite many people complaining about how the plot is going.

Kishimoto is someone I can say I truly respect, because unlike other manga's and such, Kishimoto has done something with his titular character that only is shared with one other character of fan-fictional prominence: Harry Potter. And that may get people thinking, why does Harry Potter and Naruto have such great followings, that make them stand out in comparison to the hundreds of other series that many believe deserve more time in the spotlight, or daresay even a chance for the spotlight.

The reason, ladies, gentlemen, and ferrets, is in relation to the titular characters and which extends to cover to some degree, many if not most of the characters in the manga/anime and book/movies, for Naruto and Harry Potter respectively. To put it bluntly, the reason why people seem so much more interested in Naruto and Harry Potter (and to an extent Spiderman, which is why he is always a top tier among popularity contests of super-powered individuals) is that the characters are realistic: they have mortality, they deal with failures, they have _flaws_.

In other words: they are as realistic as nonfiction of their genre can become, and that is due to making the plot, setting, and characters of their world as close in actual simulation to our world as it can be, meaning we empathize with it more.

When people read for romance, would they look to an anime/manga that deals with fighting robots and little to no actual development between the people that pilot those robots? I'm not pointing any fingers, but a simple short and easy way to determine how likely a show of that genre would reach out and catch the attention of a large and significant audience, is through a short and concise test that anyone of slightly-advanced practicality could conjure up:

Does the manga/anime of giant robots with pilots have a balance between the amount scenes of fights and the amount of scenes without fights?

Does the manga/anime of giant robots have any important/very popular characters that are not experienced/good/great pilots of said giant robots?

Does the manga/anime of giant robots have any important/very popular characters that are not even pilots of said giant robots?

Does the manga/anime of giant robots, on that note, have any characters that aren't pilots of said giant robots?

Does the manga/anime of giant robots make any sense in it's physics or explains the deviances from what would be typical physics?

Does the manga/anime of giant robots, on that note again, make _any_ sense whatsoever, within the conventional standards of what is acceptable for an anime/manga pertaining to a general audience?

If you even looked at only the last question, that would let you get an idea of what sets apart the different tiers of good manga from bad manga, and good manga from great manga.

My point behind my rant is, that the only reason writers of manga/anime, novels, hell even Fanfiction itself, should write their works, is because they want to write down their stories the way they want it to be seen.

You can't expect to write a story that nobody is going to have some criticism or some flaming remark about, and many times a story that seems to be well done gets lots of flames or complaints because the readers simply don't agree with the writer's views. But enough about that, I need to get back onto what's important.

I've been looking my work, and been looking up what it currently lacking, and I need to correct that issue, and what I have observed, (and no… before you ask, I am not talking about the comments that my readers have made, but my own self-made observations) my story lacks three elements that could make it more interactive and 'appealing', not that I actually intend to win or earn something due to use appeal, so be aware of that.

The three things I will be working onto, is, first and foremost, updating frequency. As it turns out, it's a lot harder to balance one's real life, and more importantly what free time they have, and allocating between their free time that must be used for needs and issues not related to Fanfiction, and what free time is allocated that can be used for free time. Even then, that actual real time isn't always going to be devoted to Fanfiction, which explains my lack of effort in the recent past. So I'm going to, upon uploading this chapter, do away with the things on my page that really have no need to be on my page. And also, I'll do more work on Fanfiction, now that a lot of the pressing issues of my life have finally been alleviated.

The second topic I will work on is the amount of dialogue and actual direct interaction that occurs between the characters, something that many with a keen eye for writing styles and weaknesses would have picked up on. Yes, this next chapter will be chalk full of dialogue, and I will attempt to set a balance in the future between dialogue and description, so that my faithful readers will not need to gouge their eyes out from too much text and too little actual breaks between clauses.

The final topic I will address is, something that may get your happy hats dusted for adornment, is the refocus on what many would have been hoping for: battles between the Zoids of the characters. I understand that this is a crossover between Naruto and Zoids, and as would be expected of a mash-up between these two, should be a plethora of battles and confrontations, and once again, this chapter will hopefully satisfy your needs until I become more experienced in making a balanced recipe for chapter output.

Oh, and one more thing, in regards to the last chapter, more specifically the scene involving what many would assume is '1337-speak', I'd like to make a small correction (not that it matters, as they are almost the same thing in all truth) but the intention of Madara (as almost anyone familiar with the Naruto manga, even as of just recent, would have discerned) was to give them code-names, and the code-names used were more in line with the usernames used in chatrooms.

Once again, this was implemented not just for comedic effect (and also to hint at Madara's seemingly unmentioned ability to randomly attack the fourth wall at unprecedented intervals), but the part was used to help set a baseline for Madara's personality. Meaning, that instead of being just more focused on his 'Tobi' personality or his 'Madara' personality, he'll be more of an actual blend of the two, in order to keep people guessing as to what he really intends to do. Seeing as most stories can be more easily predicted if the readers have an understanding on the main villain's psyche, I sought to make it easier to bring up a surprised twist if the characters involved really are the type to pull a zombie-rabbit out of their pocket (as nobody would be impressed nowadays if you pulled a rabbit out of a hat, real magic or not).

But enough dawdling, it's time to move onto the parts that I mentioned I would bring back: the responding to reviews made by you, my lovely audience!

+=+=+=[Begin My Addressing of Reviews]=+=+=+

Kurakawa Minamo: Yeah, you guessed it, I was kind of throwing a bone here in trying to keep my fans alive despite the amount of work that was lacking in it, but now I've decided to correct that, because for me, it's now more important to produce decent work very late, than submit some half-assed piece of crap on time. And thanks for the offer, I'll get back to my lifelong feud with that issue after I deal with a couple other things that need my attention.

HolyMage Mouto: AH! FANGIRLS! AND OF THE YAOI VARIETY! (turns on anti-Yaoi-electric barrier, and fries all the fan girls) Ah, you'll have to wake up pretty early in the morning to get me with something that obvious. And at least you still have my back, and don't worry, this chapter was a kudos to you… in some vague and most-likely-indiscernible sense. But hey, you take what you can get, right?

Fallen-Ryu: …if it weren't for the fact that you have a badass username, I'd comment on your lack of effort for grammar and punctuation (and before anyone throws a hissy-fit, HolyMage Mouto is my co-author of sorts, I.e. the Magnaguard to my General Grievous, and hence, is excluded from such of my pet-peeves). But I'm also more than willing to forget that thanks to you being the first to directly compliment my effort in producing Madara's chosen 'codenames. Hm… pine for Shikamaru, what in relation to his hair or because he often longs to be a cloud and just drift away? Hm, Des Paranoid for Naruto, eh? You know, I'll keep an eye on you, there may be some way for me to manipu- I mean use your suggestions to the benefit of me… I mean the story. After all, it's the story that matters, right?

Hades45: Yes, it is.

RoyalTwinFang: I'm pretty sure that I've done just as you've asked, but if I haven't, I'll see to that as soon as possible!

JNottle: Well, that is to be determined, I have yet to decide whether I'll use jutsu that much within the development of the story, but then again… this is a Naruto/Zoids crossover, so I may have some inclusion of them, but don't expect to be seeing the ninjas fighting with the Zoids only fighting alongside them (as that wouldn't be a true crossover, more like a 'What-If Zoids were used as summons in Naruto' story), but who knows… if everyone pipes up (and actually expands and describes in detail how it could be implemented) I might allow something as extreme as Zoids being able to walk on mountain walls and other such unconventional plot-devices.

crimsonkyuubi: Finally you remember that I am me, and not someone else trying to steal my identity! (random filler sentence, excuse me), and I hope you like how I portrayed Kagami, I simply took what was described of him and ran to town with it. As for your 'hopefully', your request has been [unfortunately] rejected, but will continue to receive notice and correction in the future. We at AvaDeProductions hope you continue to use our excellent service, thank you, and have a nice day!

Shadow of a Life: Once again, I thank you for your short and concise review, and hope you continue to maintain that opinion in the future!

lightning blade49: And half of what you should have written in this review confuses me, but hey! Whose keeping count?

Malix2: I am pleased by your extensively worded review, and once again, I will reiterate that I have yet to be fully decided on either possibility, as being the only one, but I still have the initial few chapters left before the story really gets underway, and by then I'll be forced to come to a decision. Also, I'm surprised that you gathered that much of what this story might have possibly been like just from reading my description (I tried to be very vague yet intriguing, so as to not ward off anyone and hopefully suck in more people to becoming devoted fans! And isn't haxor and leet-speak the same thing, correct me if I'm wrong? And yes, another recruit for the war… I mean the anti-Yaoi petition!

Raidentensho: Shhh! Don't use such technical terms among the people with (in relation to insightfulness) lower intellects, they may get something akin to a spoiler!

Akira Stridder: For each review, I'm going to be very honest. (1) The lack of effort of grammar! My eyes! They BURN! AAAAAAAH! (2) Well, less of an eyesore, and thank you for this and the previous review. (3) Much better, and I am grateful for your review and your improvement in the use of the English language and grammatical standards. (4) I am very pleased with your stream of reviews, and will withhold any criticisms because of the amount of effort shown in your improvement of English.

dog: (kicks guard in a way that would make Chuck Norris green with envy) Nice try, but if HolyMage can't catch me by surprise, how likely are you to succeed, especially after agreeing and mentioning the name of the only other person as of yet to try that surprise tactic? I mean, if Genghis Khan tried to steal your lunch money, and I randomly mention 'Genghis' while agreeing with his sentiments, would it be too unlikely to not expect to be attacked again for the same thing? But anyways, thanks for the support, I always can do with more of that… and reviews….and bacon, can't forget the bacon!

Church017: Was it really that good, all I did was imagine those guys as some fucked up version of Team Yamato (meaning Naruto, Sai, Sakura, and the aforementioned Yamato), and mixed it around a bit! And good, very good, more for the effort, one step closer to the domination of this site! Mwahahahahahaha!

TwiztidOne: …I wasn't even aware that something such as a single person's support percentage of an ideal could even go up so high, but who am I to look a gift flying-evil-zebra-unicorn-thing in the mouth?

nwspor: Are you okay, man? I mean, you need to take a chill pill, unless it's normal to use! Words! Like! This! Every! Time! You! Talk! But! Thanks!

the dark hero of time: …I feel like the pot that had the kettle call itself black. Do you know how confusing your two statements sound with each other, at the very least use a semicolon to separate them, and maybe make it sound sarcastic, otherwise some of us will look at you and just stare, without end, thinking you have issues, so please, don't let yourself give the wrong impression! ….unless that was a typo, in which case, then you just have to be careful in the future!

Salamander Hanzo: Love the name, but could you be a little more specific in what you tried to tell me? I'm sorry, I've gotten myself into a brain-funk after trying to answer all of these reviews!

Shisarakage: Hm, interesting name you've chosen, but anyways, I can't answer that on the same basis that I can't answer Raidentensho, but hopefully your continued patience will allow your question to be answered, as always: in due time!

Popcornsutton: :3

Timewatcher: Does this answer your question?

Richy: Adequate review.

narutoshamanking: Once again, adequate review. Mind my sarcasm.

naruhina-otaku: Okay, I've got a lot of things to say in response to this review, and it's not just the fact that you've blatantly signaled yourself as a fan of Naruto with Hinata (not that I actually hate Hinata, just that I've rarely liked much of the many 'good' stories with a romance between the two that didn't end up in a harem, or with Yugito as the other partner in the couple, which ironically I've actually grown more fond0 of that kind of triple pairing, much more interesting than something as cliché as say Sakura and Ino being paired together with Naruto, but once again to each his own). First, I've already addressed my opinion of Kishimoto in the beginning of this chapter, so if you need to see that, look no further than there. Second, please state your issues with Sasuke and Sakura, not just stating your opinion of them. I mean, I don't flame because of an opinion, I simply get irritated by a statement that intends or is inclined towards persuading me and any other readers to agreeing with you, without the factual and canonical evidence given to support your opinion.\

Another issues please use at least some type of punctuation, is it really that hard to press the ',' or the '.' key while you're doing all that typing? It would at least make it easier for me to try to figure out what exactly the latter half of your review is trying to get across. I mean, it wasn't as if this is some race to reach something as mundane as the 100th comment or something? As I don't bother which encouraging something along those lines or offering a prize for such, I really wouldn't know what goes through the mind of someone when they deal with this, and be wary that this is not intended to be an insult, as most of my sarcastic retorts and rebuttals tend to be, I am legitimately asking what was up when you were writing this, out of curiosity if anything.

Dustin B. AKA DusandDan: …and I thought I had just gotten over addressing the previous reviewer over his or her review, but then again, I never actually placed an demand on the quality of the reviews, which is really starting to irk me, as I find myself spending time that could be devoted to actually writing out my story, instead having to take my time and answer each and every review, which I think is a charitable thing to do, after all: how often do readers and reviewers get to have all their questions answered by me, without any need for competition?

For the sake of my eyesight, I'm going to copy and paste your review here, and then break it down for you, so that not only I, but everyone else can see what a doozy this one was to deal with.

[The Original Post]

aye you could ask for a yaoi filter but then they would have to put one for yuri and harems and small harems and big harems and yaoi/yuri doubles and things like that which one takes a lot of damn code and a lot of time to make it work in which this is a free site in which you have Ads that help pay to keep it free and running (and on adultfanfiction you have Yaoi ads 24/7 which pisses me off that theres no yuri or others so i say its a damn yaoi fangirl that made that site!) but yes i am with you on that i know there is homosexuals in real life but for the love of humanity people dont put people like Naruto and Sauske together (other examples, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy/Snape, Ichigo and Aizen, these people are ENEMIES THEY HATE EACH OTHER GET THE FUCK OVER IT!) makes me wanna bitchslap the retards that put them together *whew* on to my next rant...not. oh by the way try to limit your responses to reviews in your story like if several people have the same quesiton then you can answer it in the story as a response if its just one persons question and no one else has asked it just do a review reply to that person no need to put it before the story it really pisses readers off when authors do that ive seen really really good stories end up being discontinued because the readers quit reading and just started flaming the author because half the chapter was review responses very little story and then a long winded authors note at the end just to beef up word count (not saying your doing that you actually shortened the end AN by quite a bit after the first chapter or two) but overall good job on the story and i have to agree that most people never play around with the villians because theyre too damn chicken to do it i like to point out flaws in the villans thinking because a lot of the Good always beats Bad stereotype is because the creators always make the bad guy monolouge which in turn helps the good guy and gives the story a happy ending ladida yaddi yaddi yadda big effen deal hell your evil geniuses get defeated by the retarded hero because they always think theyre never a threat if your trying to take over the world wouldnt you consider any one and everyone a threat even bacteria especially your wife? :D its like (bad guys wife calls bad guy to bed) (hero escapes and captures bad guy) (bad guy gets berrated by wife for being stupid) (bad guy thinks 'I'm in here because your bitchy ass called me to bed you stupid bitch!') (the end) now Orochimaru could have killed the third with one damn hit if he wanted to all he had to do was not waste time not give the third time to regain energy and yet what does he do... brags and decides to monologue... while fighting none the less... well thats all for my rant i think if i have another ill be sure to let you know...

[End]

[The Post, After Being Broken Down and 'AvaDefied']

Aye, you could ask for a Yaoi filter, but then they would have to put one for Yuri, and then harems, and then small harems and big harems, and then Yaoi/Yuri doubles, and things like that; which takes a damned lot of coding, and a whole lot of time, to make it all work.

This is a free site, because of which you have Ads that help pay to keep this site free and running, whereas with adultfanfiction, you have Yaoi ads 24/7, and which pisses me off is that there is no yuri or other such ads, so I say it's likely a damn yaoi fangirl made that site!

But yes, I am with you on that [Yaoi petition list], I know there are homosexuals in real life, but for the love of humanity, people: don't put people like Naruto and Sasuke together! Other examples, like Harry Potter with Draco Malfoy and/or Serverus Snape, Kurosaki Ichigo with Sosuke Aizen, these people are ENEMIES: THEY HATE EACH OTHER! GET THE FUCK OVER IT! It makes me want to bitchslap the retards that put them together!

*whew* Onto my next rant... not.

Oh, by the way, try to limit your responses to reviews in your story, like if several people have the same question, then you can answer it in the story as a response, if it is just one single reader's question, and no one else has asked it; just do a review reply to that person, no need to put it before the story, it really pisses readers off when authors do that.

I've seen really, really good stories end up being discontinued, because the readers quit reading, and just started flaming the author, because half the chapter was made up of: review responses, very little story. and then a long winded author's note at the end, just to beef up word count (I'm not saying you're doing that, you've actually shortened the ending note by quite a bit, after the first chapter or two.)

But overall, good job on the story, and I have to agree that most people never play around with the villains, because they're too damn chicken to do it; I like to point out flaws in the villains thinking, because a lot of the 'Good always beats Bad' stereotype, is because the creators always make the bad guy monologue, which, in turn, helps the good guy, and gives the story a 'happy ending', ladida yaddi yaddi yadda, big effin deal!

Hell, your evil geniuses get defeated by the retarded hero, because they always think they're never a threat, if your trying to take over the world: wouldn't you consider any one and everyone a threat, even bacteria, and especially your wife? :D It's like: bad guy's wife calls bad guy to bed; hero escapes and captures bad guy; bad guy gets berated by wife, for being stupid; bad guy thinks 'I'm in here, because your bitchy ass called me to bed, you stupid bitch!'; the end. Now, Orochimaru could have killed the Third with one damn hit, if he wanted to; all he had to do was: not waste time, not give the third time to regain energy, and yet what does he do? Low and behold, he brags and decides to monologue, while fighting none the less!

Well, that's all for my rant, I think if I have another, I'll be sure to let you know...

[End]

Well, my friend, I am truly at a quandary as to how to address each and every one of your points, but I'll try my best. And no, because of all the fun I actually had working your review into something I could actually understand, I will withhold any criticisms regarding the hypocrisy of your comments in relation to your [this is assumed, as I could be wrong, and if I am, then everyone should automatically assumed you are right, no?] delegation as to what constitutes a reader-worthy author response, when compared to the other issues of this reader review.

First and foremost, I have already mentioned that I am completely aware of the technical complications that would arise in making the proposed filter a reality, but then again, the site and it's technical crew have yet to even give a response that could answer for, what is relatively comparable to the 'meaning of life' question for users of this site, what their stance is on the pro-Yaoi-integration/anti-Yaoi-filtration debate.

Next, I am aware of why sites use ads, I am not so defunct in the knowledge of 'real-world economics' to know that the site isn't free because someone has given us 'magically-free internet space'.

Furthermore, I couldn't have put it better myself, but then again, the whole idea of 'Shipping' is to defy standard logic and adopt 'just go with it' logic.

Onto the next topic, too little too late, and ironically enough, you have contributed to the very cause that you sought to prevent by your extensive and void-of-fine-tuned-English-standardization-prone review, my friend! This is what you call a self-fulfilling prophecy, so savor it while you can, because I sure will!

I have made it a point of repeating time and time again that I write for my enjoyment, and my blatant use of sarcasm in addressing my own issues with the reviews is not without awareness that doing so will possibly attract the vultures, Fury-wannabes, and trolls, but I am not without my own defenses against each and every one of them. As for word count, at the very least, I try to keep you entertained (or at least distracted) when I covertly try to bump up my word count, and some people only ready stories based on a certain word count, so I'm just meeting the status quo of what is often preferably searched and read.

You've already addressed something that I was going to make on my next chapter, so kudos to you, and now I'll have to spend an hour trying to make myself sound witty with some other profound and controversial issue!

Storylover213: I am glad that you find this story insane, I was hoping to take that stance and receive that kind of review!

ragnrock kyuubi: …any relation to crimson, dude? Great review anyways!

+=+=+=[End My Addressing of Reviews]=+=+=+

So with all of necessity for addressing being said, let's deal with the last thing separating you from the Holy Grail that is my works: the Disclaimers!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Zoids, they belong to their respective owners!

Private Disclaimer: I do not own the concept of String Theory, because not only is it impractical to lay claim to an intangible item, but because I wouldn't name it String Theory, but Yarn Theory, because Yarn is smaller compared to String, and because I like the letter 'y' being at the beginning and end of the name: Yarn Theory!

~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~

It wasn't often that Naruto found himself frustrated by any challenge that he undertook, as more often than not, Naruto's genius intellect combined with his unprecedented skill allowed him to bypass most challenges with the ease that one learned to use a new weapon, in that it took - at most - a few cases of trial and error, but eventually he'd come to understand it like he did everything else: with ease. Even before awakening the Rinnegan, Naruto could dissect almost every single detail about any jutsu, weapon, or Zoid, that he observed with his own two eyes, as it somehow came naturally to the boy, and thus awakening the legendary Doujutsu should thus make overcoming any obstacle effortless for Naruto.

But right now, that was not the case.

No, right now, Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto's seemingly infinite patience was beginning to wear thin, as he once again failed to properly perform a training exercise that his partner/zealous devotee/fellow Jinchuuriki, Nii Yugito, had tasked him to working on.

For you see, it had been two weeks since they left Waterfall Country, and were now within the boundaries of Earth Country, and both Yugito and Naruto had decided that they could afford to slow down their efforts to evade pursuing ninja and/or Zoids, especially seeing as the group had not encountered any Anbu squads within the last week, so suffice to say they felt they could rest to take a breather.

From that though, Naruto had realized that it would be pointless to continue running if neither he nor Yugito were able to deal with their pursuers in the worst-case scenario that they were attempting to evade. After all, Naruto's surrogate father and brother, Orochimaru and Itachi respectively, were both strong enough to fend off any and all Anbu squads, and thus had a lot more ease in moving around and evading notice.

Even though Naruto was strong and well beyond his peers in skills and tactics, it did not change the fact that he would not always be able to take out his opponents with such ease as he had done with the Kumo Anbu squad of Lightning Saix that had nearly caught and would have sealed Yugito's fate. After all, they were Anbu for a reason, and Naruto had simply managed to get the jump on them, and by the time they began to truly understand how powerful both he and his Zoid were, it was already too late, and they were all dead

The squads that were pursuing them were well aware of Naruto's frightening abilities and status, and had assuredly come prepared to face anything, and that did not bode well for Naruto nor Yugito. The next time they were attacked, their enemy would not be taken by surprise, and it would become a contest of combat prowess, and while Naruto had managed to make even Chunin look like academy students with but the weakest Zoids, these would be full-fledged Anbu, the best that Kumo and Konoha had to offer, and they would not all use a single type of Zoid, whose single advantage of speed once neutralized made them sitting ducks, they would be using a variety of Zoids that would make fighting them several levels of 'troublesome', as Naruto's academy classmate Shikamaru might say.

Facing this reality, Naruto had taken it upon himself to train alongside his partner, as while he was potentially more skilled than Yugito, in contrast Yugito had more experience and had been trained solely for the purpose of fighting within any combat situation. As such, Yugito was a treasure trove of information and knowledge regarding ways for Naruto to improve his skills with his Zoid, particularly because Yugito had the same class of Zoid that Naruto used: the Geno-class Zoid type.

And this meant that she knew how to use the Charged Particle Cannon equipped within her Geno Hydra. Which in turn meant that she could teach Naruto how to properly use the radically powerful and potentially self-destructive Super Shift Charged Particle Cannon that the Des Genosaurer was gifted/burdened with.

However, Yugito had refused to teach Naruto how to use the Charged Particle Cannon for his particular Zoid, because in her own words, "Naruto-ousama, you are comparable to a typhoon: very powerful and destructive within your small area of effect, but all one has to do is stay out of that area, and you're power is rendered worthless."

Essentially, Naruto was incredibly powerful in close-range and close-to-mid-range-combat, but beyond that he was rather lacking, as not only did he lack the incentive to use the firearm weapons for anything beyond sneak attacks, he did not bother to use jutsu and ninja skills in conjunction with his Zoid.

As it turns out, one could use jutsu within their Zoid like they could do outside of them normally, but one had to train to do so in the exact same way that one trained to do jutsu by their own person. Zoids could walk on walls and water just like ninja did, as well as increase their own natural speed, strength, and power, but it required extensive training as well as a greater unity with their Zoids than the typical Ninja-Z could accomplish.

In fact, the reason most ninja never bothered to try jutsu was simply because they constantly looked towards getting better Zoids, and whatever unity the Zoid and Ninja-Z had was destroyed in the haste to get 'better.'

Unlike common misconception, the size of jutsu performed by Ninja-Z during Bio-Gattai does not require someone to have Jounin-level chakra reserves to make even the smallest jutsu work. The process of Bio-Gattai fuses the chakra pool of the Ninja-Z with the chakra pool of the Zoid they're piloting, and thus it was simply myth that any Jutsu performed in a Zoid with the intent to deal damage on Zoid-size scales, depended solely on the Ninja-Z themselves.

However, it was nigh impossible to perform the hand-seals needed to mold chakra and perform the appropriate jutsu, while at the same time maneuvering and operating their Zoids in real time, because, to explain the difficulty of said task in simple concept form, it was as if you were to expected to look both left and right at the same time. And because nobody even bothered to perform jutsu by simply molding of chakra and disinclining hand-seals, it made attempting to perform the feat of jutsu within a Zoid that much more difficult.

Hence, unity between Zoid and Ninja-Z was required to correct this oversight, as with unity comes the ability for the Zoid to act in absolute precise accordance to the will of their pilot, thus allowing for the Ninja-Z to perform jutsu, while having their Zoid moving around as needed. And developing unity between a Zoid and it's pilot took time and effort, and the quickest way was meditation while in Bio-Gattai with said Zoid.

With this in mind, Yugito had taken it upon herself to teach Naruto the value of being able to be united as one with his Zoid, as well as any other exercises and skills that she deemed necessary for him to learn. And most of those exercises, Naruto found to be almost a joke, having performed similar exercises on his own time.

Then why the issues with one single exercise, you ask?

Simple: Naruto not only had to learn to think and act on the same mental wavelength as his Des Genosaurer, but he also had to contend with the mental wavelength interference created by Naruto's bond with Kyuu. While achieving unity between a Zoid and their pilot was difficult in itself, Naruto was also forced to deal with the bond he had with Kyuu, which allowed both Jinchuuriki and Bijuu-Organoid a similar semblance of mental unity.

The problem with that, was Naruto had to face the most actual representation of facing both left and right in trying to master unity between himself and his Zoid, because Naruto had to keep a balance of focus between himself, and both the Des Genosaurer and Kyuu.

Thus, any wandering thoughts that Kyuu had, would disrupt the unity that Naruto and the Des Genosaurer had, even if neither of them were off in their unity in any way. And if Naruto tried to get Kyuu to keep his focus on the task at hand - by no means simple in enacting, as Kyuu was easily bored, and prone to daydreaming - then he lost focus on maintaining mental unity with the Des Genosaurer, and that would often require Naruto to start all over again.

In Layman's Terms, Naruto was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"HOW IS A SIMPLE TRAINING EXERCISE TAKING THIS LONG TO MASTER?"

And it was driving him up the wall.

===X===X===X Chapter Five: Growth of Bonds! Old Faces Revealed! X===X===X===

Within the cockpit of the Des Genosaurer, Naruto sat in an irritated excuse of a meditative pose, growling at the constant interference created by his ever-unfocused Organoid, "Hey Kyuu, could you do me a favor, and quit drifting off into la-la-land? I'm trying to master this exercise, and it's already been… how long since we first stared, Des Genosaurer?"

"**I believe it has been one week, three days, seven hours, twenty-eight minutes, and thirty-n… make that forty seconds, since you began working on this exercise, Naruto-sama."**, the ever-polite and precise Des Genosaurer replied to his pilot's question, which, while somewhat rhetorical, was nevertheless quite appropriate in this situation.

Especially seeing as the longest that any of the other exercises that Yugito had tasked Naruto to mastering had only taken about three days.

"Thank you Des Genosaurer, now Kyuu, on average, how long does it take me to master any of these exercises?" Naruto asked his Organoid in a brutish manner, not at all appreciative of the disruption that the Organoid brought to the table, so to speak.

"_Well anywhere from one to two-days, maybe a bit less, depending on whether or not you've done any exercises like it on your own in the past."_, the crimson-red nine-tailed Organoid fox responded from his position on top of the head of the Des Genosaurer, with obvious boredom in his voice, having already reached his limits of tolerance in sitting still and keeping his thoughts in tandem with those of the Des Genosaurer and Naruto alike.

Knowing fully well that the Organoid of his was just being lazy and uncooperative, Naruto then asked him rhetorically, "Then why is it that I've yet to master this technique after more than a week into performing the exercise? Yugito and Nii confirmed that they had only taken about five days to do the exercise themselves, so why is it taking us more than twice that long, and still having yet to get the desired results?"

"_Well you might want to take it easy Naruto-kun. After all, you have the Rinnegan, so you have to take that into account. And the Des Genosaurer is the first of it's kind, so we have no idea how he influences that qhole equation. Plus you must remember that Kyuu is the Nine-Tails, while I'm only the Two-Tails, so that mightt also be a factor in how come it's taking so long for you three to properly sync."_

To Kyuu's defense, came Nii, whom was resting lazily as well on top of the Des Genosaurer, having been instructed by Yugito to 'keep an eye on Naruto-ousama', while the girl herself went off to collect more supplies in a nearby town, for when they left their temporary camp and needed to get back on the move. As things stood, they had about one more week before they needed to move, lest the Anbu and Hunter-Nin squads pursuing the Jinchuuriki pair, and get the ill-needed lead on them and catch up.

The next few moments of Kyuu's preening at the defense in his name by Nii, were sadly cut short when she added, _"On the other hand, you also need to consider that he's an idiot, and can't do anything right, so it might be solely his fault, but that doesn't surprise me in the slightest."_

The response given was seen coming from a mile away by all parties involved: _"SHUT YOUR TRAP, YOU MANGY CAT!"_

Despite being together for a little longer than a month, approaching two, the Organoid Nii and her pilot and Zoid had taken to living with the rambunctious trio of Kyuu, Naruto, and the Des Genosaurer, with unexpected ease. If one saw them all together now, they would have thought that they had known each other since their childhood, but they would have been dead wrong. Not that the bond between them was any less strong, in fact, one could say the bond between them had fastened quickly into something akin to a reversal between a master and servant.

Against Naruto's protests, Yugito followed Naruto's directions to a 'T', and almost never refused to follow any of his orders, no matter how unsavory and questionable those orders were. It was almost maddening how much it affected Naruto in having a proverbial slave, even if the slave was entirely willing on one part. The day before they both left the borders of Waterfall Country, Naruto had learned just how far Yugito's devotion and willingness to please him extended, and it frightened him unlike anything else in his life.

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

"_I finally have some time to myself, thank Kami."_

_A pensive Naruto relaxed under a small waterfall, naked as the day he was born, besieged with thoughts about his fellow Jinchuuriki, Yugito. Ever since that night in the cave, when Naruto had saved Yugito, the Rinnegan-bearer had noticed a subtle change within the older ninja, something that - until that point in the cave- had never been there before._

_It wasn't just a simple feeling that Naruto noticed within Yugito that he saw in her eyes, whenever she looked upon him. No, it was more like a kind of mindset, a completely new way of thinking, and it seemed to revolve solely around him. Whenever she was within his presence, she always seemed to keep an eye on him, and whenever engaging in conversation with anyone, she was always shifting between watching whoever they were speaking to, and himself, as if she was judging what kind of physical response would be most appropriate in denuding him._

_Even when he wasn't around, as he often observed using the unmatched prowess in stealth he possessed to remain undetected, she always seemed to be 'half-there', like one part of her mind was completely focused on whatever task she had at hand, but the other half was in it's own little world, and Naruto had a feeling that what she was thinking about concerned him._

_To some, that kind of behavior sounded like a strong case of Yugito crushing on someone, in this case Naruto, as he had initially theorized, but theory was shot to hell when he observed that there were too many things off with that theory, to properly explain Yugito's behavior._

_Among all the gaps in that theory, what stood out most was that Yugito never seemed offended by anything that Naruto did or said, at one point Naruto had suffered a Freudian slip and remarked on Yugito being over-developed in her body shape for someone of her age, and the girl didn't even blink… and even asked him if he would like to physically confirm that observation._

_As far as Naruto knew, Yugito was not a loose women (she had confirmed that she was a virgin on another occasion that something risqué had become a topic of discussion, and had never even touched a man), and crushes did not protect men from the wrath of perversion regarding the women crushing on those men._

_The Toad Sannin, Jiriaya, could attest to that, because no matter how many women - civilians and kunoichi alike - crushed on the dashing man in his youth, all took offense when he tried acting perverted towards them._

_No, Yugito's strange behavior towards Naruto was not explained by a simply crush, there was something more to the problem, but for the life of him, Naruto could not figure that out, and right now, he wished he could get a peek inside the noggin of that confusing girl, "What I'd give to get inside Yugito's…"_

"_You need only ask, Naruto-ousama."_

_The reaction of Naruto, created by a combination of genuine surprise, coupled with the realization of just whom responded to his unfinished question, and most of all, just what his broken-off remark could have possibly entitled, was great enough that he jumped half-way out of the water in an attempt to make an escape, only to freeze and stop upon realizing realize that he had no clothes… and it wouldn't do to flash Yugito..._

_Although his progress out of the water had made that goal a moot point, not that Yugito made any effort to even look embarrassed, if her looking directly at his 'manly bits' with a look of apprehension (and was that approval in her eyes as well?) was any indicator._

_The normally stoic and collected expression on Naruto's face was absent, replaced with anxiety and embarrassment, as he had unintentionally managed to give Yugito a free opportunity to see him in all his bare glory, not to mention that Yugito had, in all essence, said she would not refuse Naruto if he desired to sleep with her, from the way she had answered his sentence… even if Naruto had only been refereeing to his desire to learn what was making Yugito tick._

"_If you desire me, Naruto-ousama, you simply need ask me, and I will allow you to grace me with your touch.", Yugito said with absolute seriousness, and Naruto took this moment to look Yugito into the eye, and saw something in her eyes that shocked him to the core: love, pure unadulterated love and devotion, and it scared Naruto to see this in her._

_Taking Naruto's lack of protest as a confirmation - which was only cause by his shock in seeing the depths of feeling Yugito felt for him - Yugito herself began to strip, and all Naruto could do was utter a pathetic squeak as Yugito stood in front of him, as bare as he himself was, and she approached him with full intention of doing 'that' with him._

_Fortunately for Naruto, his brain had realized just what was going to happen, and suddenly broken out of his reverie, Naruto took a moment to shout, "Wait Yugito, stop!"_

_Immediately, Yugito froze, like a video game set on pause, completely motionless save for the questioning of her eyes, which was a sign of her confusion in why he had suddenly asked to stop, when he had not made any protest to Yugito's offer when she made it._

_The only thought that Naruto could now utter, so shocked he was (not to mention Yugito's bare C-Cup, borderline D-Cup breasts, were literally inches from being smothered in the face) that Yugito would go so far for him, why she went so far to do pretty much anything he asked, that single thought he had was voiced, "Why?"_

_For a moment, Yugito seemed unresponsive, seemingly still frozen in place, until she actually crossed over and hugged Naruto to herself (and now he was living a moment that many men would literally kill to be in, which could be figured, seeing where his face had been inches from being in, and now was in), and she gave him a smile that only caused even more questions than answers to drown Naruto's mind, until she began to elaborate on just what it was that made her the way she was._

"_That day you rescued me from those Anbu, the day we first met, before I woke up in that cave, I had a dream. The dream was the last night I spent with my mother, before she was assassinated…", and Naruto's eyes widened in response to that, not having even considered the possibility that Yugito had actually experienced the love of a parent, as was the cruel fate of most Jinchuuriki that were abandoned or orphaned upon their creation._

"_That night, she told me about my father, how she faced a lot of hardship in her life but eventually found happiness when she started a relationship with him, she mentioned that being with him made all the pain in her life worth it. And she told me that the same was for every girl in our ancestral line, that the more fucked up their life was, the greater the guy that made them feel complete."_

_Looking down into the hypnotic eyes of the Rinnegan, Yugito continued, "My mother told me, that she knew that I would suffer like no other woman in my line before me, and in return, the man whom would take me as theirs would be a God among men, without equal nor comparison."_

_Taking a moment to reminisce about that memory, Yugito then shifted topics, "The Nibi Jinchuuriki's in the past have been gifted with the power of sight, visions of the future, and I was no exception. The vision I saw more often than any other, do you know what it was?"_

_The obvious response from Naruto, whose guess was as good as anyone else's, caused Yugito to giggle and play around with a lock of the blond male's hair, leaving him exasperated and wanting to know what she was referring to. Luckily, he didn't have to wait long, and the answer set him even more on edge._

"_I saw myself being chased and cornered by Lightning Saix, and then being rescued by a black demonic Genosaurer, piloted by a blonde-haired male with silver-eyes, like the ripples produced by dropping a rock in a pond."_

_There was no mistaking what she had just described: that was exactly how his saving her had occurred, the Lightning Saix, the Des Genosaurer, she had even gotten the Rinnegan down, despite never having seen it in person, which only made her claim that much more valid._

_And that was a frightening thought, but it also entailed that…_

"_You were destined to save me, and I am destined to serve you in return."_

_That was a bit troubling, and before Naruto could even offer a rebuttal, Yugito continued, "That night, in the cave, when I broke down, it was because I had been trained to completely lack and suppress all emotion, but the ordeal I had undergone, coupled with everything I was facing in meeting you and proving my dreams true, it became too much, and you saw how I reacted."_

"_If you hadn't been there, I have no idea what might have happened to me, I could have very well snapped and killed myself. But you were there, you comforted me despite not even knowing me, you rescued me, not even knowing me, you protected me, not even knowing me. I knew at the moment, from then on… you were the one. The God my mother was referring to, that was you, Naruto-ousama."_

_Unable to respond on his own, having been on the receiving end of a series of revelations that changed the way he had viewed Yugito, Naruto was not able to protest as Yugito led him away to the tent they had set up, and slipped under the covers as she gave him a chaste kiss on his forehead, and stated, "Those… Anbu, they would have taken my innocence, and because you saved me in every sense of the word, it is only fair that it, along with the rest of me, belong to you._

_Just before she drifted off to sleep, Yugito ended her tale with something that would keep Naruto awake for many a night to come, "This is my desire, Naruto-ousama, to see your desires fulfilled, because whatever makes you happy, in turn, makes me happy. You are my world, my God, and whether it be the sword that slays your enemies, or the womb that bears your offspring, as an Angel serves her God I whatever way she can, I too will serve you. That is my nindo, my ninja way."_

_Despite being held in the heavenly hold of a naked Yugito, Naruto could not relax that night, so caught into his own thoughts. And that would be the case for many a night, as Naruto contemplated the idea of having such a willing servant._

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

With that being said, Naruto once again found his own thoughts drifting, for once being a hypocrite in allowing his mind to wander when he should have been focusing on the exercise at hand, but then again, with the way that Nii and Kyuu were arguing, there really wasn't much of a chance that he'd get anything done regardless.

So into his thoughts Naruto was, that he almost missed the incoming transmission from Yugito, and boy was Naruto surprised at what she had to say.

"Naruto-ousama, I have found two Anbu from Konoha in the village, on orders of the Sandaime Hokage here, and one of them says that they are your 'sister?' Even though she has purple hair and her eyes do not have the Rinnegan, not to mention the details she used to describe you were 'a blond-haired blue-eyed midget with whisker marks and a nine-tailed pain in the ass…'"

The widening of Naruto's eyes upon hearing the mention of 'sister' and 'purple hair' stopped whatever thoughts Naruto had, because while he would have been wary of anyone whom claimed to know him, there was only one person whom thought of him as a brother that was still from Konoha and had purple hair, and that was the only person in Konoha who considered Kyuu nothing more than a 'nine-tailed pain in the ass', as she so 'affectionately' referred to him as.

The response given by Naruto was short and concise, "Bring them here Yugito, I know who you're talking about, and I trust her with my life."

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

"So Iruka-sensei, when were you going to tell me that you were Tengu-san?", was the very first question that Naruto ran off his tongue, now that he was face-to-face with not only Yugito, but now also his surrogate sister, Mitarashi Anko, otherwise known as Anbu Captain Shi-Shi, as well as the recently promoted Anbu Captain Tengu, otherwise known as Umino Iruka.

The evidence that made this revelation obvious to Naruto, was seeing the two Zoids that the Anbu Captains had arrived in alongside Yugito's Geno Hydra.

As Naruto was well aware, Anko piloted a rare and special Zoid known as the Diablo Tiger, which fit her personality perfectly, as more often that not, she had the attitude of a devil, and even she could put the scare in Naruto, whom had spent day after day in front of the Sandaime Hokage, and not being intimidated by what he could do in the slightest.

But the Zoid that her partner Tengu had arrived in had confused him, for it was also a unique Zoid that only one person in Konoha possessed, the Shadow Fox, and as far as the Sandaime knew, the only person in Konoha that possessed a Shadow Fox was Naruto's Chunin academy teacher, Iruka.

And the Sandaime was always aware of each and every Zoid that his ninja possessed, and the old man had not been lying to Naruto when he stated that bit of info regarding the sole Shadow Fox that Konoha had within it's borders.

From that thought, started an entire chain of thoughts that led to the possible speculation behind Anbu Captain Tengu's identity, and thus when Naruto called him out on his identity, which led to the Anbu panicking upon stating that nobody beyond Anko had yet to learn of his identity.

To think, that Naruto had helped his academy teacher become an Anbu Captain by ratting out the previous Anbu Captain that very day he left Konoha.

"To be honest Naruto, you weren't supposed to know, nobody was, that's the whole point of keeping secret identities in the Anbu, unless you've already forgotten my lessons in the academy.", Iruka bemused with a chuckle, and both teacher and student shared laughter at that thought, as both knew how ironic this entire situation was.

Naruto's own amusement was interrupted when his head ended up in a head-lock and then the Rinnegan-bearer was forced into a noogie by his surrogate sister, whom had grown irritated at being ignored, and had waited long enough to ask Naruto the two things on top of her mind. "So brat, mind explaining your long-haired female escort and why she's here with you, and what happened to your eyes?"

"On that thought, mind explaining why you left Konoha? I mean, it wasn't like there was any reason for you not to stay was there?", Iruka asked sarcastically, causing both Naruto and Anko to fall over in hysterical laughter at that insinuation, and even Iruka began to join them, all three of them knowing just how stupid that question was.

What reason wasn't there for Naruto to leave, after all?

Getting the last bit of laughter out of his system, Naruto began to answer, "In regards to the first question, she is-"

However, it seemed that people had started to take up the habit of interrupting Naruto before he could finish whatever he wanted to say, as Yugito autonomously answered, "I am Nii Yugito, Nibi Jinchuuriki and pilot of the Geno Hydra, and as an Angel serves her God in whatever way he desires, I too serve Naruto-ousama in whatever he wishes."

Frowning at just what could be insinuated from Yugito's statement, Naruto was not surprised in the look of bewilderment from Iruka, nor the look of deviousness coming from Anko, and for once, Naruto wishes that he had put a muzzle on Yugito…

Exhaling a sigh, Naruto decided to take control of the conversation, by answering Anko's other question, "In regards to my eyes, that night I left Konoha, when I found the Des Genousaurer…", at which point, Naruto nodded his head towards the black Genosaurer, drawing a whistle from Iruka and a "Damn!" from Anko, before continuing, "That night, I learned something that the Sandaime had been keeping from me."

The two in front of him, as well as Yugito, whom had yet to learn of the circumstances regarding his departure of his former village, sat up straight as they awaited whatever shocking truth Naruto was about to reveal, and shocking it was, "The Des Genosaurer was the child Zoid of the Yondaime Hokage's Strum Tyrann, and Uzumaki Kushina's Strum Fury. The Zoid was designated a single pilot, whom would be the only one allowed to pilot it, that pilot was the child of the pilots of those two Zoids."

Upon their questioning glances, seeing as Naruto was the one piloting the Zoid, the gears in their heads started to operate, as they began looking quickly between the Des Genosaurer and Naruto, and as if to confirm it, Naruto pulled out a Bingo Book, one that still contained an entry for the Yondaime Hokage, and flipped open to the page that held a picture of the Yondaime Hokage.

Then, Naruto took out an old picture of himself that he happened to have kept on his person, which was taken just last year and still had him with his blue eyes, and placed that picture on top of the Bingo Book page opposite the picture of the Yondaime Hokage, and both Anko and Iruka sputtered at realizing that Naruto, before his eye-change, had essentially been a mini-me version of the Yondaime with whiskers stamped onto his cheeks.

"That's right, I'm the child of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina. The Des Genosaurer recognized me for who I was, before even I learned of the truth, so that if anything makes it unquestionable.", letting the revelation sink in, Naruto waited a moment for the three in front of him to absorb this startling news, and then decided to add on what he did know about his eye-change.

"As for my eyes themselves, well, I believe that the night I left, the emotional turmoil brought upon by this revelation caused my hidden Doujutsu to awaken, as that is the only thing that my eye-change could be attributed to. Yugito here claims it to be the Rinnegan, because there have been only three recorded Doujutsu, and you guys are from Konoha, you'd know all about what the Sharingan and Byakugan look like."

Naruto decided that Anko and Iruka needed some time to think things over, and so he called over Yugito and asked her, "Is there some sort of hidden secret to your exercise? At this rate, I'll become a father before I manage to complete this exercise!"

Once again, Naruto would regret not choosing his words and wording more carefully, as Yugito once again took it to mean something it did not, "Very well Naruto-ousama, if that is what you believe, then we should get to work on producing you an heir, so you may be able to finish this exercise."

The response she received from Naruto, was a roar of frustration and the strange image of him pulling at his hair, which drew a giggle from Anko and a chuckle from Iruka, both of whom were glad to have accepted the mission assigned to them by the Sandaime.

Oh yes, this would be an entertaining long-term mission.

~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~

As you can see, I am still doing well at making excellent chapters, and after I finish this chapter, I believe I will do some work on Incubus Naruto, as everyone seems to like it a lot, which I am now glad that I have done, but I'm sure that mostly everyone pays attention to me because of this story, and while I had never intended it to be my greatest story, I hope that finishing this story will get more attention to my future stories, as I enjoy writing this stuff… and hopefully my influence will eradicate the presence of Yaoi from this planet.

Then again, I'm not sure what I would condemn if Yaoi were to be banished from existence, but I'll burn that bridge when I get there.

**AvatarofDeath13, over and out!**


	6. Cataclysm of Fates! Crossed Prophecies!

_**Basic Text-Style Explanation**_

~Normal Text~

The black, demonic Berserk Fuhrer sniffed the lovely, gentle flowers.

MARKER= Regular Text

~Thoughts~

'_I hate you, AvaDe, you bat-shit loco, manipulative son of a bitch!'_

MARKER= _Italics_

~Dialogue~

"All your base are belong to us!"

MARKER= "Double-Quotation Marks"

As well as...

_**Special Text-Style Explanation**_

~Zoid-Speech~

"**You're avenger status is pissing me off, Uchiha Sasuke!**

MARKER= Underline and **Bold**

~Organoid-Speech~

"_I'll drown myself in sulfuric acid before I Gattai with a Molga!"_

MARKER= _Italics_ and Underline

~Demonic/Enhanced Speech~

"**I hate Molgas!"**

MARKER= "Double-Quotation Marks" & **Bold**

XOXOXOXOXOHOXOXOXOXOX

Hello one and all, that is RIGHT!

I'm back, and better and more insane than ever… and I thought I couldn't get any more insane!

…wait, thinking that in itself is signifying your getting even more insane right?

…but what if that kind of thinking instead is what constitutes growing more insane…

…or is it-GAH! Nevermind!

Wow, I really have to keep a hold of my insanity… or else I might go sane…

Anyways… I haven't got much to say on my defense of why I haven't been updating much, well… um, yeah… anyways, I know right now you want to hear me not rant, and instead want to see the new chapter of Naruto: A Zoid's Tale, right? Well here it is…

By the way, this chapter is slightly incomplete in that I didn't bother adding the reviews… yet.

At this moment that I am typing… right now… eh not going to fall for that again…

This moment I'm tired and just want to get the chapter up, I'll bother posting my review responses when I re-update this chapter, which I do actually do, by the way. I mean, is it really that hard to just resubmit the same material with just a few changes, additions, and corrections?

Oh yes, the reviews that I responded to that I will re-upload to the rehashed version of this chapter will only go up to the last reviewer I had before I uploaded, and if you're asking by this point who that was, then just forget about it and wait to see the re-upload like everyone else!

Anyways, here is the chapter, disclaimer is disclaimer, and will be made into a real disclaimer once I re-upload.

But for now, an emergency temporary disclaimer, I don't own anything in this story, not even my ideas… STOP STEALING MY IDEAS EVIL-ME!

~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~

"Target in range, attempting to neutralize!"

Lunge!

Crash!

Slam!

Death…

"Desert Liger 04 is down! I repeat, Desert Liger 04 is down!

_The sounds of battle…_

"Desert Liger 02, attempt to distract him, Command Wolf 02, attempt to shoot him from behind!"

Lunge!

Crash!

Slam!

Death…

"Command Wolf 02 is down! Desert Liger 02, try to-"

_The engine of war…_

"Desert Liger 02 is down! All forces, surround the target, do not let him get in range!"

Lunge!

Crash!

Slam!

Death…

"Command Wolf 03 is down!"

_The song that never seemed to end…_

"Blade Liger 02 is down!"

Lunge!

Crash!

Slam!

Death…

"This isn't working!"

Why…?

"We've been sent on a suicide mission!"

Lunge!

Crash!

Slam!

Death…

"Stealth Viper 03 is down! Command Wolf 05 is down!"

_Why did it have to be this way?_

"Blade Liger 04 is down! All forces, form up on Blade Liger 01!"

Lunge!

Crash!

Slam!

Death…

"Blade Liger 01 down! Desert Squad 1 and Mission Leader is down! This mission is a failure, initiate a full-scale retreat! All forces, attempt to retreat at once, to al members of Desert Squad, do NOT attempt to engage the target!"

_Why did they decide now to betray me…?_

"Fuck, we didn't anticipate for… No! Guysak 05 is down! Guysak 04 is down! The target is now pursuing us! Do NOT let him catch you or you will die!"

Lunge!

Crash!

Slam!

Death…

"Oh my god… Guysak 02 is down! Guysak 01 is down! Desert Squad 2 Leader has been killed! Desert Squad 2 is down to 1 remaining Zoid! No! Now Stealth Viper 02 is down! He's slaughtering us!"

_Why now, of all times…?_

"That's it! This is Command Wolf 01, I'll try to redirect his attention! You all make your escape!"

Lunge!

Crash!

Slam!

Death…

"Command Wolf… Command Wolf 01 is down… Desert Squad 4 has been terminated…"

_Why does nobody understand me…?_

"Desert Liger 01! Watch out!"

Lunge!

Crash!

Slam!

Death…

"Dammit, Desert Liger 01 is down! Desert Squad 3 Leader has been killed! Desert Squad 5 is down to 1 remaining Zoid!"

_Why didn't anyone care about me…?_

"This is Blade Liger 05 of Desert Squadron 1, aborting mission! The target is too strong! Requesting backup, do you copy? Does anyone read me?"

Lunge!

Crash!

Slam!

Death…

"Stealth Viper 04 is down! Stealth Viper 01 is down! Desert Squad 5 Leader has been killed! Squad 5 is down to 1 remaining Zoid! Fucking shit!"

_Why didn't anyone love me…?_

"Desert Liger 05 is down… Desert Squad 3 has been terminated…"

"He's going to kill us!"

_Oh yes… that's right…_

"He's going to kill us all!"

Lunge!

Crash!

Slam!

Death…

"He almost got me! We're dead! It's hopeless! I might as well…"

_I'm a monster…_

"Shut up and keep running, Steal Viper 05!"

Lunge!

Crash!

Slam!

Death…

"We need help, call for backup again!"

_I live only for myself…_

"Nobody is responding!"

Lunge!

Crash!

Slam!

Death…

"This is Desert Squad 1! Desert Squad 3 and 4 have been completely destroyed. Desert Squad 2 and 5 are down to their last Zoids! Desert Squad 1 is down to two Zoids. We are all currently without our squad leaders! Requesting backup, do you copy?"

_I love only myself…_

"Desert Liger 05 is down… Kentaro-aniki… DAMN YOU FUCKING TANUKI!"

Lunge!

Crash!

Slam!

Death…

"Stealth Viper 05 is down! Desert Squad 5 has been terminated! Guysak 03 is down! Desert Squad 2 has been terminated! I'm… all alone…"

_Yes… and you too, Ichibi…_

"So… it's just you and me, you bastard spawn of Evil! I don't care if I die here, you don't take my older brother from me and expect me to just roll over and die?"

Lunge!

Crash!

Slam!

Death…

"This is for KENTARO! SHI-NE!"

_No… I don't think I'll call you Shukaku… it sound's like the name of a drunkard…_

"Desert Squad? This is Sunagakure Outpost 3, we received your distress signal, do you read me? Desert Squad? Do you read me? DESERT SQUAD?"

===X===X===X Chapter Six: Cataclysm of Fates! Crossed Prophecies! X===X===X===

"Hey Iruka?"

"Yes, Anko?"

"How much do you want to bet on Naruto's chances of finishing Yugito's task by the end of this week?"

"…do you mean for or against that notion?"

"…for."

"Then no, I took that bet last time because I expected that Naruto would have finally managed to gain some headway during the beginning of the week, and by the end of that week he'd have gotten it…"

"Aw, but he really did look like he was, so I figured…"

"You're his sister, you know when he will and won't be able to do something, that alone is an unfair advantage, plus last time, you only gave him four days instead of an actual full week."

"Hey, I wasn't going to wait seven days, what do I look like, an idiot?"

"It still wasn't fair, and you have to at least try to be fair when making bets."

"Says you! I remember perfectly that you took Naruto with you into that casino and made a killing thanks to his godly powers of luck, I swear Yugito might be Lady Luck in disguise, with how obsessed she seems about him, and with how lucky he is…"

"You might be right there…"

"So… are you in?"

"Double or nothing."

"Boring!"

"Fine, if you win, not only do you get my share of the 'profits' from the casino, but I'll also massage you for a full week."

"Yes!"

"But if I win, then not only do I keep all of my money, but you can't binge on dango for a week."

"NO! My precious dango!"

"Fine! Then instead you won't complain about anything to me for the next week."

"Only if it involves Naruto."

"That includes your rants about dango being better than ramen."

"But it IS better!"

"Anko?"

"Fine… but only for a week, and I get to keep eating it, right?"

"Yes, because otherwise you'd break that week-long silence faster than a Shunshin, no matter whatever your obligations are…"

"Alright, deal?"

"Deal."

"…and by the way, the week started… last Sunday."

"B-b-b-b-but-t-t-t t-t-that means that-t-t… NARUTO'S ONLY GOT THE REST OF THIS DAY LEFT! WHY DID I FORGET TO INCLUDE HAVING AN ACTUAL 7-DAY GRACE PERIOD IN THE DEAL?"

"Ah, you're so easy to rile up, Iruka. No wonder Naruto takes after you!"

'_You has better get it done today Naruto, or I'm going to make the Kyuubi haters seem like pacifist hippies by the time I'm down with you…'_

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

There were very few times that Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto, or just plain Naruto (if that's how you rolled) found himself unable to make headway in something that he already had the basic understanding in completing… however, like the saying goes, 'theoretical can only wish it could be realistic, and it has nigh nothing on practical.'

And much the same, what was simple in pen and paper and mental thought, was a fucking quagmire of epic proportions when trying to actually go through the physical enactment.

So far, Naruto had been able to Bio-Gattai along with the Des Genosaurer without Kyuu, and had even - with the express 'permission' of Yugito (which basically consisted of Naruto asking her and she immediately responding in the positive, without even considering the request, much to Naruto's ever-growing frustration) - managed to Bio Gattai with the Geno Hydra to see if it was an issue on interaction between himself and the Des Genosaurer.

The issue did not exist between Naruto the Des Genosaurer, as the Zoid almost felt like an extension of himself whenever they Bio-Gattaied.

With that said, there could be only one of two possible issues: Kyuu was either having trouble Gattaing with either the Des Genosaurer or Naruto himself, or as Naruto suspected, a bit of _both._

Yugito had it so lucky, her Zoid and her Organoid Ni were so well behaved and always on the same level of wavelength, always paralleling each other…

Wait…

That might just be it!

What if they had been going about it the wrong way?

Instead of making it so that their mental wavelengths had to be exactly alike, they had to simply _parallel_ their wavelengths!

Combining wavelengths would create obstructive interference that prevented anything from being accomplished, but having parallel wavelengths would allow for them to coexist without ever interfering with one another!

"Kyuu, Des, I figured it out! We're going to give this another shot, but this time, instead of making them exactly alike, we only have to make sure our wavelengths are equally parallel to one other!"

On the sidelines, the rest of the entourage, which consisted of the Diablo Tiger and the Shadow Fox exploring a brook nearby out of sheer boredom, Anko and Iruka whom were sitting close to Naruto's position on a nearby tree branch and making their bets, and the Geno Hydra simply content with watching the Des Genosaurer, much like her pilot Yugito was with watching Naruto himself, whom along with Ni were lazing on top of the Geno Hydra's snout, the Organoid Ni having contented herself in a different manner.

After Kyuu had begun to display his own frustration at something that 'a friggin house cat could do', Ni had taken to throwing insults and non-sequiturs randomly and unexpectedly with the intention of messing up Kyuu's performance, and to great success, much to his annoyance.

The first time Ni had tried doing that, Yugito had scolded her Organoid for possibly sabotaging Naruto's efforts, but a quick reply from the Rinnegan-wielding blond had Yugito suddenly singing an entirely different tune…

Hell, even Anko, whom had at first had taken to teasing Naruto about his 'private servant', had become rather disturbed with just how much emphasis she placed on her surrogate little brother's 'requests.' And that did not even account for Iruka's own long-term reaction to Yugito's 'behavior.'

However, before we get to them, let's go over their current situation.

Strangely enough, they were in, of all possible places, the Land of Rain, which for some reason, was actually the safest place that they had stayed in so far… despite logic dictating that Hanzou would hunt down any within the borders of the Land of Rain itself.

But Naruto could senses something wrong with this image, yet he was the only one…

They had been traveling together for a little less than a month, going on for what was now three, approaching four weeks, and while Iruka and Anko had their own team dynamic, the dynamics between Naruto and Yugito were very… surreal, if nothing else, in their opinion.

Her devotion to Naruto could almost be constituted as marking her as a fan girl, but for some reason, trying to do so would simply be… wrong, as if it was an incorrect designation, and she wasn't obsessed about some crush on him, if anything, she idolized him more like a devotee did to their patron God… almost exactly like a devotee…

Hell, she used the honorific of 'ousama', one they had never heard in usage, and when asked what made him so special, she remarked…

"_Because __**he**__ just is: __above__, all others…"_

They both had to wonder if such a pair could have even existed elsewhere, and if it involved another guy running around with a Rinnegan on the loose…

Sadly they and everyone else were too engrossed with their respective activities, to notice the simultaneous pair of sneezes that came from only a small hidden distance away.

But getting back to the situation at hand, both Iruka and Anko observed as Yugito smiled and remarked, "He did it, but then again… I _knew_ he would.", and both merely shook their head and simply attributed her behavior to a new strain of fangirlism…

They didn't even want to begin to believe that the Worshipping Naruto as God theory had any credulence, lest they lose what sanity they did manage to keep intact from the trials and tribulations they withstood throughout their lives.

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

They waited in anticipation, as finally Naruto shouted, "_**Bio-Orga-Gattai**_, _**Go**_!"

The resulting flash of light blinded everyone in the vicinity, and once it cleared, low and behold, the Des Genosaurer had taken a slightly red tint of it's colors, and it's runes began to glow, signifying that the Bio-Gattai with the Organoid Gattai (or 'Orga-Gattai' for short) had managed to finally become successful.

Wait a minute…

Iruka remembered their deal, "Yes! I win! That means no 'Dango-Dango-Dango!' or 'Dango is the best thing ever!' and anything involving else involving dango, or 'Naruto, you're a bigger pain in the ass on a _good_ day than Iruka is on a **bad** day! Why don't you do something Iruka?' or 'Iruka! Iruka! Naruto stuck his tongue out at me! Punish him!' and anything else involving Naruto that you want to complain about! Not for an ENTIRE WEEK!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-", was Anko's cry to the heavens as she realized she had lost a bet that was all but guaranteed to turn in her favor, and now she didn't have Iruka's money… AND she couldn't rant about dango and Naruto to Iruka…

Oh well, she'd just have to talk Naruto's ear off twice as hard to compensate for her withdrawal from annoying Iruka…

Their thoughts, after acknowledging the terms and resolution of the bet, once again shifted back to Naruto, whom was experiencing something akin to nausea, only much worse.

"Hey… Yugito, is it supposed to be this… disorienting, when you do this? I feel like I'm going to hurl in a circle…"

The feathery giggle from Yugito relieved Naruto, sensing that everything was just fine as she decided to explain for the benefit of everyone present, "While most people don't notice this feeling except when they Bio-Gattai for the first time, for Jinchuuriki… it's a little different. You see, it's easy for us to handle the Bio-Gattai, so used are we to being on a similar wavelength to our Bijuu Organoid, and the closest Jinchuuriki-Bijuu pairs can even think to each other without speaking, so Bio-Gattaing isn't really all that difficult."

"It's doing that and Gattaing with our Organoids that gives us the 'worsened' disorientation that most people feel when Bio-Gattaing with a rather powerful or unfamiliar Zoid, and it doesn't really go away, you simply have to get used to it, and eventually you learn to be able to push yourself past letting it affect you."

"Just remember, just like most Ninja-Z can only maintain a full-on Bio-Gattai for a few hours without needing to rest, a Jinchuuriki has about one hour, tops, that they can remain fused, and for every second that you remain in that state, you have to wait twice as many seconds for a second Orga-Gattai to be used after a first, and after that you have to wait twice as long as you did before, meaning 1 second of activation for every four seconds of waiting, and it doubles each and every time you use it in succession."

"A minimum of eight hours is required to reset the time passage counter back to the base 'one second to two seconds' ratio, so you shouldn't be using it in rapid succession if you still expect to have to fight even after using it."

"Normally, it would not be this extreme for other Zoids, but most Zoids would not even be able to withstand the power overload from both a Bio-Gattai and an Orga-Gattai, in fact Jinchuuriki almost always cannot Bio-Gattai or Orga-Gattai with any Zoid that isn't particularly draining in power consumption, much less both, hence why Geno-Type Zoids are perfect for us. In the past, Organoids not created from the Bijuu could only stay fused for very short and set periods, while with us, our Organoids can help adapt out Zoids to better handle the Orga-Gattai."

"For me, Ni, and the Geno Hydra, we have mastered the Orga-Gattai to the point that our max time limit for a single Gattai session extends to an extra hour, with the same exact pattern of doubly-increasing waiting periods to perform another one. I would imagine there is more too it, but we'd require an expert on Geno-Type Zoids, or Zoids similar to Geno-Types."

Indeed, who?

"I believe… I may have that experience…"

And that was when the mystery pair, that had remained hidden from the others, decided to make their entrance.

Casually walking out from the trees were a pair of individuals clad with black cloaks adorned with red clouds, and both of them had their faces covered by their straw hats which had… bells dangling from them?

Really, were they circus performers from the last Zoidiad?

As they took off their hats, not even bothered by the threatening posture of everyone else in Naruto's' 'group', even with their Zoids at their sides, they both noticed that the term bizarre really did seem to stick with them. Really, orange and blue hair, and what was with the piercings?

It really did seem like the Zoidiad clowns had come to bother them for something.

Up until the moment Naruto managed to catch a glimpse of the orange-haired person's eyes… and saw an almost exact mirror image of his own eyes staring right back at him, and he nearly chocked upon verbalizing that announcement, "T-t-th-th-the … the Rinnegan!"

Taking a moment to capitalize on Naruto's shock, Pein did something that was very uncharacteristic of himself, and smiled and asked politely, "Well, it seems we have more in common than just the type of Zoids we use…"

As if taking that as a signal to enter, two new Zoids appeared directly behind the strange pair of intruders. The one that seemed to belong to the blue-haired female resembled a Pegasus if anything, being mostly blue on the bottom portion of it's body and white on the upper portion, with red-shaded wings and gold-treated greaves where the cannon bones of a horse of Pegasus would be, a pair of shock cannons mounted on each side on the rear of the Zoid facing forward, and to top it all of, the Zoid had an elongated horn on it's head that was almost assuredly it's primary weapon, all in all making it be some combination of an armored unicorn and Pegasus.

But the other Zoid no doubt belonged to the auburn-haired man with the same eyes as Naruto, for it was essentially the same kind of Zoid that existed among the Geno-Type and Fury-Type Zoids, a Tyrannosaurus-based Zoid that was mostly blue with orange… panels, for there was no other word to describe the strange parts of the Zoid that appeared at certain points around the Zoid's design, and in perfect honesty, it looked actually less intimidating than his own Des Genosaurer.

Naruto knew better.

Oh he knew, just by looking into the eyes of his counterpart that he stood no chance if he fought now… he could somehow sense it, and looking at the man told him that the man himself knew he sensed it, and as if not having done anything to warrant suspicion, the auburn-haired man with the Rinnegan chuckled and remarked, "_Why_ so **serious**?"

The only person whom didn't look completely disturbed was the auburn-haired man's partner, whom seemed to have an eerily familiar expression upon her visage, one that many took notice of, and as if turning to confirm their speculations, saw nearly the same exact expression being delivered by Yugito, whom had moved herself into a position where she could best support and defend Naruto if necessary… the same position style that the women was utilizing, except a lot more refined and with the experience of having done it countless times before.

Deciding that this confrontation needed to go somewhere, Iruka, the most sensible of Naruto's ragtag group of misfits, promptly cut to the point and asked the question that everyone knew was just waiting to be asked, "Who are you, and why are you here?"

The only response made was a wagging of the finger as the auburn-haired man seemed to chastise Iruka for some unknown mistake, and then replied, "That is rather rude behavior, do you treat all your guests this way?", and even Naruto couldn't help but snicker at the irony of someone else being the teacher and Iruka being the 'bad apple.'

Once again, as if he was simply expecting them to just obey his wishes, he beckoned them as he walked away, saying, "Come, my associates and I have prepared a banquet for us to discuss certain… interests that we have in your group, I believe Kisame is cooking… he makes the best ramen-"

No sooner had the word 'ramen' been mentioned, that Naruto had abandoned all hesitation and zoomed past the cloaked Rinnegan user to the scent of ramen that he indeed did detect, and all the way he shouted, "-", until he escaped away from earshot, and the orange haired man had to suppress a belly-laugh as he merely grinned while elaborating, "And here people thought that I liked my ramen a bit too much…"

For the first time, the blue-haired woman broke form and sighed at the unspoken meaning behind that statement…

Nagato would have another excuse to go on a ramen-binge; for who knows how long?

Glancing towards the others, asking the unneeded 'coming?' gesture, the others of Naruto's troupe reluctantly followed into the proverbial dragon's den.

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

"Damn, Mr. Fishman! I think this might even be better than Ichiraku's!"

"From what I hear about that place from Itachi, isn't that supposed to be famous as the best ramen restaurant… ever?"

"…yeah, but don't tell anyone about this, but I really like your ramen ever better than their's…"

"Well… thanks for the compliment kid, who knows, after this whole business of ours, I might open a restaurant of my own."

"…I agree, Kisame."

"See, even Itachi-jisan agrees! Kisame-sama's ramen is the best there is!"

"Oh come now Naruto, it can't be that good, can it?"

"Don't knock it till you try it, here, see for yourself."

"Well alight, just a little… woah… this is… wow…"

"Iruka-sensei… are you okay?"

"Hey look Sasori-danna, that guy is totally tripping, I knew it all along that Kisame laced all his cooking with some drug or acid or something!"

"Shut up, Deidara and just keep your mouth shut, which from what I understand is four times as hard for you to do as it is for anyone else."

"…huh? Why four times?"

"I believe that he was referring to the fact that with your… condition, you possess four mouths, hence it logically being four times as difficult to keep them all closed."

"…go blow it out your hole, Uchiha!"

"Hey, don't insult Itachi-jisan!"

"Hahahahaha, oh that's fucking rich! 'Uncle Itachi?' What did you do, raise the kid?"

"As a mater of fact, I did."

"…"

"…"

"…yeah right, and I supposed that purple-haired woman over there whom I heard hates the mere mention of Orochimaru's name, in fact, actually considers him her loving dad."

"I'll take that bet!"

"Fine you little brat, it's easy money for me then!"

"…Hidan you can be really stupid at times, but betting against Naruto is simply put… the WORST thing you could EVER DO!"

"Why is that, Itachi?"

"Because, Kakuzu, Naruto has made over a thousand bets in his lifetime…"

"Hey purple-haired woman! Do you know a guy named Orochimaru? He used to be- urk! Get's your hands off me!"

"You know my otou-san? Where did you see him? Where, where, where, WHERE?"

"Calm down Anko-chan, you're going to strangle him to death."

"If only that were possible…"

"Up your's, Kakuzu!

"Well you see now why Naruto is legend? He has never lost a bet, not once."

"Oh yeah… Fuck! I lost to a sniveling brat!"

"Pay up, Hidan."

"Fucking money-lover Kakuzu… fine, here's your stupid money brat…"

"Yatta!"

" Go and wipe that smirk off your fucking little face before I do if for you!"

"Why should I?"

"Jashin hates assholes…"

"He ought to know, it takes one to know one."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT JASHIN, YOU LITTLE HEATHEN! I'LL FUCKING EVISCERATE YOU AND FEED YOU TO MY DOG!"

"…Hidan has a dog, a still-living dog…?"

"Oh, shut up Konan!"

"Remember your manners, Hidan."

"…sigh, _yes Leader-sama_."

"…and?"

"…Grrr… _I'm sorry… Konan_…"

"Much better…"

"…Itachi… is there any way I could… erm, utilize your nephew to…"

"To bankrupt casinos?"

"…yes…"

"…go ahead…"

"…seriously?"

"It's not that big a deal, and you're not the first to take notice. Orochimaru usually took advantage of Naruto's luck when he needed some quick and hard cash, Anko immediately began taking Naruto to the local casinos in Konoha to afford her dango expenditures on her pitiful salary, I even used Naruto's unmatched talent for luck to attain the money needed to hire the private tutors that he and I used…"

"AHA! So he DID have tutors!"

"Iruka… I think my tou-san and Itachi here could also have counted as private tutors themselves, so it's a moot point…"

"...oh yeah, but man! I had always wanted to prove that Naruto didn't listen to me and avoided class, beyond just some simply inability to bear the academic curriculum, but I knew the truth: you just didn't like my classes!"

"Of course! How exactly would knowing anything about the Shodaime Hokage's sister be able to have helped me do anything, unless I tried coercing him into doing things for me via blackmail of having an affair with her, but whom would actually have done that?"

Everyone at the make-shift table suddenly began noticing the much-too-innocent whistling of the mysterious cloaked member with the black hair and gloves and an orange-spiral mask, which to anyone who understood the horribly unsuccessful whistling ploy… and what it actually meant when someone used it, caused everyone, even the stone-clad Sasori, to exhibit the infamous anime-style sweatdrop of embarrassment, exasperation, confusion, and/or shock.

"...what? Tobi is a good boy?"

"But apparently Madara is a bad boy… a very, very, naughty bad boy that sleeps with the sisters of his enemies…"

"Deidara-sempai is so mean to Tobi!"

"Shut up!"

"Um, hey, Uzu-san?"

"…there aren't any Uzumaki here, besides you Naruto."

"Sorry, I meant the person wearing that spiral mask."

"…are you talking to Tobi, or Madara-san? Tobi is a good boy… Madara is a cranky old man…"

"Um, Madara?"

"… very well, you had a question, Naruto?"

"…we're not enemies, right?"

"I don't believe we are, do you? And why do you ask?"

"…I don't want you sleeping with Anko-chan!"

The roar of laughter around the table only made both Anko and Madara/Tobi more embarrassed, and luckily Madara/Tobi has his mask to prevent himself from being laughed at any further, as the co-founder of Konohagakure and the legendary Madara Uchiha, did not blush!

…even if the girl did share a unnoticeable few features of Shira-Yuri…

…come to think of it, on the subject of resemblance…

"Hey, Madara-san, why are you staring at Yugito-chan like that?"

Instead of replying, he seemed to star at her a little more, then turned to stare at Itachi, and then, turned to a picture of himself… from the days of the founding of Konoha, with his wild hair that was strangely reminiscent of a certain character from another anime whose name starts with 'R', and this picture was enough to prompt a wolf whistle from Konan, much to Nagato's chagrin.

So what if Madara used to have long hair like that?

…blasted Uchiha and their genetic pre-disposition towards exhibiting ultra-bishounen-characteristics…

Madara then decided, that his discovery was best left to be revealed later, and for now, he needed a distraction… oh yes, the whole point of the meeting Naruto's band of misfits!

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

"Okay, we can continue the fun and games later, but we still need to address just what exactly we have come and revealed ourselves to you for."

Surprisingly Naruto, instead of letting Iruka or - god forbid - Anko to speak, decided that this was in a sense his group, and thus he needed to speak on it's behalf. "I'm assuming that it doesn't involve anything that falls within the range of 'legal', and knowing that both Itachi-jisan and Orochi-tou-san have at least previously associated with this group, I can also assume that there is a certain 'crowd' of individuals that can be allowed to know and associate with this 'association."

"Heh, very astute, and yes, this is really as far as you get in terms of what would be deemed 'illegal', but for you to hear the rest, we will basically have to induct you as a part of ourse-"

"Deal."

To say that everyone was shocked by the sudden acceptance of the terms require to hear the information would be quite an insult to the term of understatement, as even Madara seemed thrown off by Naruto's most unexpected answer, and living true to his nature as pure, unpredictable, chaos, Naruto further explained, "You performed a multi-step plan that occurred well before this meeting even began , so that we would reach this stage."

"First, while my group was traveling, I had - unlike the others - noticed a sudden decrease in the number of pursuing ninja, mercenaries, and bounty hunters that before had plagued us to the point that we couldn't stay in long durations in any particular area. At first, I was ready to assume that they had finally decided to stop wasting their resources, then I remembered the saying that, 'a Jinchuuriki at worst can equal a hundred men, and at best a Jinchuuriki can equal a hundred armies', and there was absolutely no way they would ever give up on chasing up, even if it reached the point of us moving away from this land, our pursuers would follow to the very ends of the earth, and we would have no peace."

"So why the sudden shift?"

"I also began to notice that the closer we came to the Land of Rain, as we are now, and in particular, the borders of Amegakure, the frequency and intensity of these pursuits decreased at an exponential rate."

"Now, I'm no historian, but even I know that handing around anywhere near Amegakure is bad news, and Hanzou, the leader, could give me a run for my money in being the single most paranoid fuck there is… by the way, there is an explosive tag on each of your legs and under your seat, and don't bother removing them, they will all automatically explode… except for you Deidara, I know how much you love explosions, so if you try to do so, instead you'll be shocked with enough electricity to keep your out for two days minimum…"

Ignoring the sudden incredulous looks from the various people around Naruto, the young boy continued, "And even I knew to memorize to heart that Hanzou would kill even a flea if it wasn't an Ame ninja and it approached his village, and he didn't even trust his own men not to kill him, the maniac…"

"So then, at the very least we should have been spotted and then chased out, or at worst, targeted as 'sport' by Hanzou, seeing as no doubt our villages have marked the Jinchuuriki as S-Class Missing-Nin threats due to our simple status, and I'm leaning more towards the former to have likely happened…"

"So then, why didn't it happen?"

"Why would getting closer to Ame not only make our lives safer and easier, but also free of the normal repercussions of anyone approaching 'Hanzou's Ame.'?"

"One of three possibilities made its way to my 'theory-box', if you will."

"Theory 1: Hanzou, or whomever else is behind the scenes, for whatever reason - ranging from being coerced, to wanting to gain our allegiance, to simply not caring - left us to our own devices while still maintaining the normal policies to all others."

"The problem with that theory: the very man himself, Hanzou is too paranoid to even chance an allegiance in that manner, he has never allowed himself to be coerced by things like blackmail or bribery, and he most certainly does care who sits outside his village, to the point that security in Ame is second to none."

"Theory 2: If we exclude ourselves as a direct influence, then an unknown individual, group of individuals, entity, organization, or combination of such was 'clearing the frozen snow' for us, so to speak, and these 'third parties' have a vested interest in us, and for whatever reason, Hanzou feared this unknown party to the point that he did not act against us while sitting almost directly outside his village."

"The problem with this one is the same as with the first one, as this is Hanzou, a man whom had granted the Sannin, my otou-san included, whom taught me a great deal of what I currently know, a man who can not be easily intimidated by anyone."

"Which leads me to point out that I've been talking about Hanzo in the past tense, if you had paid attention.

"Theory 3: One of the frequent civil wars in Ame took a different turn than the others, and somehow Hanzou was killed or incapacitated to the point that he could not act in the ruling position of Ame."

"The problem with this is that, if Hanzou really was dead or incapacitated beyond the ability to rule, why wasn't it know? Sure, Ame was always a bit segregated from the rest of the affairs of the Elemental Nations, but news travels faster than ninja sometimes, often several times as fast, and at least there should have been a murmur about things in Ame if people could have caught wind."

"…but then, what if some of those theories supported everything… if we just mixed and matched theory part with reality…"

"And here is what I came up with: a group of rebels in Ame had managed to overthrow Hanzou, and instill a new reign over Amegakure. But the background behind the victory lies within an organization that supported the rebels from the shadows, and either certain distinct higher ups and/or even the ruler of Ame his or herself had connections to that organization, and if word about the change in power in Ame became known, then eventually, eventually… connections would be made, dots would be connected, and just like me and what took a few months, in a few years the other villages spy networks would have uncovered the connection between Ame and this secret organization."

"Your secret organization feels that for some reason it does not want to have a public image of any kind, leading for me to believe that this organization has a very dark and lucrative goal, one that is so hush-hush that Ame itself was basically locked down, and all those whom attempted to venture out of Ame whom might have possessed any possible leak to spill, would have been 'taken care of…', correct?"

Nobody said a word, so shocked at Naruto's deduction skills, but he wasn't done…not by a long shot.

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

"And where do my 'misfits' come in, you ask? If you recall the news, the Jinchuuriki of all the villages have been ousted out, and let me tell you that sticks out like a rotted, gaping maggot-infested sore, because villages hold onto their Jinchuuriki more dearly than today's girls hold onto their virginity… if you exclude fangirls, whom I believe exist as an entirely separate species of beings, and much less intelligent.", joked Naruto as a jab at Sakura and the unjustified hell she made him go through to stand out and catch the attention of Itachi's younger brother Sasuke, and the general sentiment of fangirls drew a morbid chuckle from all those present, but for the most part, they were too busy watching Naruto wield the proverbial 'Eye of Providence', which had no relation to his Rinnegan…

"The Jinchuuriki's abandonment at first could look like a simple scare tactic and no more realistic than a kabuki show's effects on the world, which everyone seems to have suddenly picked up in some sad attempt to show off whom has the most testosterone. However, I've made it a point to learn as much as I can about everything going on around me while revealing as little about what is happening with me to everything else, and this becomes crucial to my conjecture."

"After three consecutive Shinobi World Wars, the Elemental Nations have been experiencing a much-desired era of peace, and during peace-time the need for the military to run at full-speed decreases, and thus you move from war-time armament to peace-time disarmament, and with that disarmament the threat of war fades, thus becoming a self-sufficient cycle of lessening threats and military reduction. After all, what use is a military in an era of peace?"

"But then… they, being the countries that fund the ninja villages, don't have the resources to keep pushing for a more powerful military, a more powerful village, and thus what happens when you need warriors to fight, but your main reserve of warriors is young, untrained, and under supported?"

"You go for the cheaper and more expendable solution like in the days of old, hiring mercenaries like the countries used to hire clans, after all nobody would miss a dead mercenary. And just like the clans, there is always a certain bunch of mercenaries that stick out and get the best jobs, but the thing about mercenaries is that: even when they're famous, they're not."

"You don't see any mercenaries in the Bingo Book, because none of them are officially ninja or former ninja, traitorous or otherwise, and that allows for a sense of anonymity that could allow for an organization of mercenaries to go around and take the work of ninja villages, and what better way to get those jobs than to get the same results for a fraction of the cost? That's the beauty of economics: you can choose to get the same product for a lesser price depending on who you deal with in order to get it."

"Once I gathered together that whole Ame theory and the shadow organization, suddenly things began to click, pieces of the puzzle that were missing I started to find, and the entire picture became ever so clearer."

"I tried to put out several ideas of the connection between the weakening of the villages, the escaping Jinchuuriki, the revolution in Ame, and most of all… why have we suddenly been given a mysterious breather in our attempts to escape notice."

"The picture as a single unified entity, was more frightening than all of the pieces individually could have represented together."

"The collapse… of the ninja system."

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

Nobody said a word, the Akatsuki too shocked by Naruto's seemingly unprecedented ability to connect the dots than nobody could even see, let alone piece together, and the rest of his own troup shocked at the kind of people they were dealing with.

The Akatsuki.

People whom wanted to bring down the system of villages, to bring down the position of the ninja itself…

And reduce it to… what?

"For whatever reason, this organization, if it was connected or even directly controlling the mercenary groups that had been costing villages their main source of income known as missions, then possibly the weakening of the villages might not be an unintended side effect of the mercenaries rise, but instead the intended result of a cause and effect chain.", Naruto continued his explanation, further explaining the actions and reasoning behind the Akatsuki's actions.

"The villages, too worried about inciting war and maintaining peace, will put less effort in honing in their soldiers and source of power, the ninja, and often it is war that hones the weapon that ninja are known as, war created ninja like the Sannin and the Kiiroi no Senko, not times of peace. Thus, the overall quality of the average ninja, no matter to which village you went to, would pale in comparison to the capabilities of the ninja of old."

"Zoids are also an influence in this equation, as while it is preferred for Zoid pilots to have ninja training to perform such feats as Bio Gattai, they are not required, indeed, with people like me running around who could hide from even the Sandaime Hokage and never be caught unless I wanted to be found and on pure skill alone, and in this day and age, Zoids are the main tools of war of this modern age, the ninja nowadays just offer their support and chakra to the Zoids, and as I mentioned, the overall quality of ninja is decreasing, and thus the benefits and advantages held by chakra-using pilots have also begun to slip and fall."

"Thus, ninjas have slowly and slowly been struggling to keep their place in the world,, and for whatever reason, if there was such an organization that intended to bring about something like the collapse of the village and even the ninja system as a whole, they would never be able to let slip of their plans, or else the villages would possibly find some way to act, even band together and form an alliance in order to stop the threat that this organization represents, in both the humane manner and the manner relating to the honoring of traditions and the way of life that ninjas have held…"

"So then, what do the Jinchuuriki have to do with all of this nonsense?"

"Simple: everything."

"A single Jinchuuriki can perform feats and commit acts that even many ninja at or above the level of Kage could only dream of doing, if ninja are superhuman, kekkei genkai users are ultrahuman, then Jinchuuriki are basically demi-gods, because when a Jinchuuriki is calculated into anything, you cannot expect anything except the unexpected, and as my quote from earlier described, even an untrained Jinchuuriki can just be turned into a rampaging beat that destroys all by flinging around it's Bijuu's power like a toy, and be just as much if not more useful than entire generations of ninja."

"As Jinchuuriki, we're feared and loathed because we exist at a level that is beyond natural, as while users of kekkei genkai or clan techniques are seen as heroes, we are seen as demons, because Jinchuuriki are powerful, too powerful, and all but a select few never learn to trust one, and even then, there is no guarantee that Jinchuuriki would find happiness… In fact, some villages take advantage of this tragedy, using the emotional instability and the weak-willed state of such Jinchuuriki to brainwash them into becoming mindless puppets to dance on the strings of it's master until it outlives it's usefulness."

"In short, the villages have come to rely on Jinchuuriki when all else fails, and if those pieces were removed from the 'game board', then it only becomes a matter of time and secrecy before the ninja system collapses under it's own weight."

"So if this secret organization was able to remove these threats, then all the better, right?"

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

"But then, here comes an anomaly: me."

"A person with a significant clan background whom were among the greatest pioneers in fuuinjutsu, a pedigree that basically guarantees that I and any future children I have will carry unfathomable potential, an innate ability to pilot with such skill that at my weakest and with several handicaps I could take out opponents that nobody in this room could even try to claim credit to in my youth… and Itachi-jisan and my otou-san can back me up on this, a unique Genosaurer with it's own incredible pedigree and a Charged Particle Cannon so destructive that I'm actually afraid to even test it… let alone fight with it, a Doujutsu said to be possessed by the very creator of Ninjutsu itself and the most powerful shinobi ever known, and this all doesn't even consider I'm the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, now reincarnated as the lovable oaf Kyuu over there…", Naruto remarked, drawing laughs all around and an annoyed yet playful growl from Kyuu himself.

"Yeah, I'm not stupid, to try to pass on recruiting me, would be like the current Jiraiya saying no to a one-night-stand-where-anything-goes with his teammate Tsunade… in her physical prime…", drawing a startling laugh, from, off all people, Nagato, whom began rolling on the floor, unable to hold it in, because it really took someone whom knew the Toad Sennin to be able to truly appreciate the full brunt of humor in that joke, hence why Naruto knew about it, after all his adoptive father had been teammates with the two individuals mentioned in the joke.

"What's more, in addition to having Iruka and Anko, whom you've probably figured out that they are Anbu thanks to Itachi-jisan's time as an Anbu before he defected from Konoha, you also recognize my… er…", and for the first time in this conversation, Naruto's silky smooth tongue caught itself, because… he really didn't know what to call Yugito…

Unfortunately, the girl seemed to have some supernatural ability to speak with her own motor mouth - with the most startling of words - at the worst of times.

"What Naruto-ousama is attempting to say is that, as a God, he requires divine followers, and I act as his Angel, his divine messenger, and everything I am is an extension of himself."

The silence that followed really disturbed Naruto, but for what reason he didn't know.

Then, Kisame was the first to break the ice, and squeal in a very high-pitched voice, "…there are… two of them… the world really is going to Hell in a hand basket…"

Even Madara gave a strange long glance between Naruto and Yugito, and Nagato and Konan, and then he asked off-hand, "Does every person with the Rinnegan gain a God complex, and their closest non-familial female associate become their crazy supporter?"

Iruka could only grasp at straws and ask, "…you mean, Naruto and Yugito's… er, relationship, isn't unique?"

Nagato himself answered, now eyeing the two Jinchuuriki in a new light, much to Naruto's discomfort, "Apparently, it's a bit more common than one, and hopefully less common than three."

Everyone else shuddered in agreement, for fear of what would happen should the day come that either Naruto or Nagato announced themselves as expecting fathers.

One God-complex Rinnegan user was enough to crack the dam, two was already past the limit that the dam could hold, three would destroy whatever remained of the damn that the first two left.

After all, one of these Rinnegan users had somehow, without using anything other than a bunch of isolated facts and events, managed to piece together the existence and primary goal of the Akatsuki organization…

Either they had seriously slipped up…

Or this kid was something that even the Sage of Six Paths would have been dumbstruck by…

Madara decided to cut straight to the chase, having enjoyed the… rather surreal ability of Naruto to deduct even a large majority of Akatsuki's plans without having any direct knowledge or hint of it's existence, and after finding enough of his - rather damaged pride, following Naruto's analysis - to talk, he lamented, "Well, to be perfectly honest… you already touched essentially everything that this organization is founded on…

"But there is another part: what we plan to do, following the collapse of the ninja system and the villages."

"We desire to bring an era of peace, a true peace, and not this mere ceasefire that's bound to erupt into war once again, because so long as ninjas exist, the pain of war will persist. Maybe it might never go away as long as humans exist, but having ninja to make it infinitely more destructive certainly doesn't help. The Sage of six Paths, the creator of Ninjutsu and the founder of the study of chakra, might have made a grave mistake when he passed on his teachings, for what has become of them?

The Sage was a pacifist above all else, and he would be disgusted to see what kind of world his techniques have been used to create, I believe he might even commit suicide, so distraught to learn that what he meant to be used to protect and defend… has been corrupted to battle and kill…

We wish to realize the Sage's original intentions, a peaceful world, where none will be forced to bear the pain of war, where people can live without fearing that someone could come in and kill them for something as mundane as money.

A world that people such as you, sacrifices that have been spat and made in vain, victims such as you whom gave and gave, and do have done so unwillingly and without appreciation…"

"A world… where Jinchuuriki can live as normal, human beings."

The words the man gave… they were too hypnotic to Naruto, the very image that his mind created when he heard these words stirred a yearning in his heart, something that he had never truly realized up until his time, when he was living in Konoha… he had taken everything for granted, all the pain and misery were just things that he could not do anything about.

That was a lie.

He knew, it was the very reason he had left Konoha, awakened the Rinnegan in the first place.

He saw the truth: people didn't want to change.

They would fight and fight, if meant to keep something of theirs… even if that something was bad for them in the long run, or even worse in it's costs to maintain than even the sacrifices they made to keep it. They wanted to keep things the way they were, because they were afraid of change, unwilling to chance nothing more than the possibility that they might have to do a little more than necessary than if things stayed the same.

People truly learned to trust one another when your lives depended on their watching your back, because if you couldn't, all you had was yourself, and that was something that very few could live with.

But even that trust would dissipate once the threat was gone.

But what remained almost irrevocably constant?

Hate.

People hated things, they hated the things their parents told them to hate, they hated the things their friends would hate, they hated the things their next-door neighbors told them to hate, they hated the things their lovers told them to hate, they hated the things their children to hate, and the most common case was that they hated things that society dictated they should hate.

People hated the things others hated.

It was easy to make a decision, but hard to reflect on that decision, and even harder to change that decision.

Pride was a terrible fault of people, and there were many who simply didn't change because they couldn't accept the fact that indeed their might be something wrong with them.

Humans were selfish, and everyone wanted to live, even if it meant putting down someone else if it kept them afloat.

There was a time that Naruto believed that he could change people.

But you couldn't force change on people.

You could only force three things on people which would have any real impact on them, and possibly change them.

Death.

Pleasure.

Pain.

Of these three, death only forced the ultimate change, a change that they simply could not handle. Death was a change that did very little to correct anything but the worst of the unchangeable.

On the other hand, pleasure, the act of pleasing others, which could encompass anything from trying to make them feel better about themselves, to helping them do something they found difficult, and even to giving physical pleasure itself, it was one of the very few things that could work… but it wasn't effective on large-scale operations. You couldn't realistically sex up the entire world if you wanted to bring peace, because eventually people would get bored of pleasure.

Oh, the last one… it was effective… quite effective, in fact it was something so successful that Kami herself had implemented it as a natural deterrent in living beings from putting themselves at risk, as you wouldn't know not to put your hand in fire until you started feeling the serious side effects, and you might have burned your hand on before you start losing consciousness from blood loss, but with pain, you would draw your hand back the instant your touched fire by accident, and you would learn not to do so.

The way these people were operating…

Naruto himself made his observation vocal, "…you intend to use pain to bring peace to the world."

Nobody had ever seen Nagato smile like that, even Madara and Konan felt disturbed by the sheer radiance on his face as he looked at Naruto like he had just found his beloved long-lost son.

Madara felt that he had to get this meeting wrapped up, he didn't want to see what a happy Nagato could do…, "Yes, you might ask your fellow Rinnegan user about that… later. Yes, we intend to bring peace, even if it means we force it on an unwilling, warlike world. Which is why we ask for your assistance… but first, an introduction…"

The first was the person Naruto had been happiest to meet, literally having tackled him upon spotting him, a young man approaching, but not quite close to his twenties, whom possessed a youthful appearance and the typical bishounen face of a strong inheritor of the Uchiha 'kekkei genkai', bearing long black hair wrapped in a ponytail and black eyes framed by two bangs hanging from the front of his hair, and thus it was safe to look at him, what with him having foregone the need to use his Sharingan at the moment and thus not possessing red eyes at this moment, because unknown to most… he had attained certain traits of a prankster, and wasn't above using a Sharingan-induced genjutsu to radically alter his appearance to someone else's.

"You are already acquainted with me, but for everyone else's benefit, I'll give a more thorough introduction. I am Uchiha Itachi, I was a shinobi of Konoha before I defected, I used to be an Anbu Captain and before that I raised Naruto from the middle of his childhood… after the villages drove Orochimaru into leaving it to exact revenge; that and save Naruto and Anko from the prejudice of Konoha, which is almost the same story as with me, having wanted to save Naruto from damnation, but unable to do so from the inside. I massacred my clan, whom would have proven a serious obstacle in my being able to give Naruto such a life, what with their desire to have Naruto marry into their clan to add power to their future generations. I then fled Konoha, joined Madara's organization after he approached me, and now I basically serve as Kisame's partner and act as the logically-minded portion of our organization."

The next person to speak was the person responsible for preparing this banquet, the one whom Naruto had discovered could produce ramen more enchanting than Ichiraku itself, the tallest member of the group and from a distance the most distinguishable, having both blue skin and blue spiked hair, and having what looked like gills on his face and fishlike eyes, the man grinned with teeth… sharp teeth that made one think of something like a shark or a barracuda, and to top it all off, he had a strange wrapped object that was held by a strap dangling from his back, and strangely very faint snores could be heard being issued from it.

"I am Hoshigaki Kisame, I was a shinobi of Kiri before I defected, I used to be part of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen, and before that I used to be part of the secret intelligence squad which meant that I had to protect information and keep it safe no matter what… even if it meant having to kill fellow members of my village… something I had to do more often than you might want to believe… I really didn't like this whole cycle of deceit where I was both supporting and betraying my village, and I couldn't tell where the truth began and the lies ended. Madara himself came to me, understanding my plight, and after I decided to make a statement in killing some of those people whom I had… personal issues with, I left my village and joined this organization, from there I became Itachi's partner and… as you have discovered… the one whom provides the equally tasty and healthy meals that our group has taken to carrying as replacements for ration bars. Oh yes, and on my back is my sword, Samehada… Samehada is sleeping, so you can say 'hi' later…"

Chuckling at the revelation that their organization was spoiled when it came to eating, the next person to introduce himself was the only blonde of their group, whom had blue eyes and a ponytail in a fashion disturbingly similar to a certain few living in a clan in Konoha, that and the fact that he could have passed for a girl as well as a member of that clan with his appearance did nothing to help make him look rather eccentric.

"I am Deidara… don't ask about my family name, I was a shinobi of Iwa before I defected, I was the student of the old buzzard Onoki a.k.a. the Third Tsuchikage, and before that a member of the explosion corps, I prefer a quick introduction like my art tends to be, and my art by the way is found in explosions… unfortunately I did a little delving into a forbidden Kinjutsu, and basically I broke the law and took the technique and had to run to save my skin, and I had already reached S-Rank status for my crime and was planning on going on a little… bombing for money career, Hehehe, but before I could do that, I was made an offer I couldn't refuse… jackass Itachi and his fucking genjutsu… and here I am with you guys, serving as Sasori's partner and acting as our organizations pyromaniac… un."

Unlike the previous speaker, the next speaker didn't seem rather extraordinary, simply being covered almost entirely from head to toe and wearing a bandana and possessing cornrows for hair… until he seemed to stop and then collapse, as a young-looking man with red hair and brownish eyes whom seemed a little… dull… too dull…

"I am Sasori… and see Deidara before you ask my about my family name… {Deidara: Prick}, I was a shinobi of Suna before I defected, my life story… well your former village's White Fang robbed me of my parents when I was young {Deidara: Boo-hoo…} shut up Deidara, nobody cares about you! {Deidara: Bite me!} No thanks, you'll probably blow up in my face. {Deidara: …ass.} …anyways, not much to say about me really, my personal issues aside, I ended up killing the Sandaime Kazekage and using him for my own forbidden technique… and I'll just say it involves puppets… as for my art, unlike the two-year old idiot who likes anything that goes 'boom' {Deidara: You just don't GET it!}, I prefer things of a more… permanent existence, I find the greatest example of art to be those things that can remain eternally on this planet… {Deidara: You just like things that can grow old and stay old!} Shut up! I'll end my introduction before the blonde suicidal terrorist tests my patience, by saying that joined this organization by choice, that I act as Deidara's babysitter {Deidara: Fuck you!} and partner… if you call it that, and I act as our organization's spy master… any you don't want to find out if I can do all the things the spies in movies can do… you really don't want that…"

On to a less morbid individual… strange considering who was next on the 'list', the person to take his turn in introducing himself was the man whom had exhibited the greatest display of chronic rudeness and foul language, and many suspected he had something like Tourettes or something, and with purple eyes and silver hair with a strange pendant… and a triple-bladed scythe that looked just as nasty as it probably felt when used on someone.

"Well assholes and al, my name is Hidan and the only family name I can claim is that of my lord Jashin-sama, and you will all do well to show some respect to my lord… that includes the dumb blond here {Deidara: Hey, what gives?} …I was referring to the _other_ dumb blond, idiot… I was a shinobi from Yu… you probably haven't heard of it… {Deidara: I heard of it… from your mother!} FUCK YOU! Right now I don't feel like saying my life story, all that matters is that now I serve Jashin-sama and sacrifice in his name! Praise Jashin-sama! {Deidara: Up yours, Jashin, where's _my_ blessing then, huh?} I'LL KILL YOU! …LET GO OF ME KAKUZU! FINE! I'll kill you later… anyways… to wrap things up, I joined this organization because Jashin-sama told me there it was a good decision… (Deidara: Does he tell you with which hand to wipe your ass?} Shut up! I bet you can't even do that, because you're afraid of tasting your own SHIT if you're not careful! I'm the partner of the greedy jerk who won't let me kill that brain-dead heathen, and my job is to deal with our organization's problems! Fucking hell, I'm going to stab your when you're not looking Deidara!"

Sighing at the rather brash behavior of his partner, the next 'contestant' was the person whom had seemed interested in acquiring Naruto's assistance in acquiring vast amounts of money for, er… lumber futures… yeah, well unlike the profanity-abusing silver-haired maniac, beyond having a noticeable tan and strange green eyes with red where the white portion of his eyes should be, nothing much was noticeable… other than he has covering up his face and head even more than Sasori's faux puppet body.

"Before this introduction process takes forever, my name is Kakuzu with a family name with no bearing of your concern, I was a shinobi of Taki, my gripe with life was that I failed to kill your former village's Shodaime Hokage {Madara: If I couldn't do it, how the hell were you supposed to?} …ignoring that, I failed and was harshly punished despite having had a perfect mission record until that one mess-up, and I couldn't stand it… so I took their village's secret prized technique and killed them with it… and I'm pretty sure staying in the village after doing that would have been hazardous to your health… {Hidan: No, really? A gerbil could figure that out! = Madara: Shut up, Hidan!} Thank you, I left, valuing my life, and from there I became a bounty hunter until I was propositioned to join this organization, and knowing about it I was inclined, like you Naruto, into investigating, and before I knew it… I was in, and I will admit it has it's perks… even if there are some unsavory things I've had to deal with… {Hidan: You KILLED two of your previous partners!} Well excuse me? The first one had become a little too ambitious to learning fuuinjutsu the short way without knowing the inner workings of it, and he was so disfigured that I simply granted him a mercy, the second one tried to take me money… NOBODY takes my money, and gets to live the rest of their life like nothing happened… sigh, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10... That's better… as you can tell I'm the partner who has to keep a tight grip on Hidan's leash {Hidan: Fuck you!} I don't swing that way, sorry… {Hidan: Ass.} and my acting role is the person who manages our finances, because otherwise these idiots would end up spending all the money on things like fucking _pocky_ and _cherry bombs_ and other useless bullshit…"

Madara waved his hand and remarked, "Zetsu isn't here right now, he's off doing a mission, but you'll become acquainted with him soon enough."

With there only being two other people besides Madara to be introduced, on the unspoken urging of the former, the latter, which happened to obey the former in the same fashion Yugito obeyed Naruto, came up to introduce herself, being the only female of the group, and a remarkably beautiful one at that, having a small piercing under her bottom lip, blue eyeliner, and a white rose to compliment her blue hair and amber-colored eyes, the sole female by herself easily made up for the lack of other of her gender in the group with how enchanting she looked, and at the same time, one could tell she could kill you in an instant in the most unexpected way… and she also looked like she wouldn't do so much as breathe if her Rinnegan counterpart didn't say she could, much liker her blond-haired female Jinchuuriki opposite.

"I am Konan… no family name… I was not actually ever inducted as a shinobi, but if I had been it would have been as a member of Ame, I am and have always been the support of Nagato and our deceased friend Yahiko, we once knew families but lost them in the Second Shinobi World War, and as orphans we met and have been together since… even Yahiko, if only in spirit, we actually were briefly trained by the Sannin of Konoha, Jiraiya, and under him I began the basis of my training in mastery of… paper… and do not insult me on the basis that I am a woman or that I use paper of all things, because I can kill just as easily as Deidara can, but without the needless background noise that would defy the whole point of us being ninja, masters of stealth and shadows… {Deidara: Hidan isn't stealthy!} Hidan can't die and doesn't need to worry about that… unfortunately… {Hidan: I'd insult you, but your _lover_ might find a way to do just that.} …s-shut up! Well, getting back on track, we eventually did manage to begin our own revolution and managed to topple Hanzou, but in the process… Yahiko died. There isn't a day we don't miss him, and we fight to keep his dream for a world without peace, a world where Ame can have peace, we do everything to keep his sacrifice ongoing, eternal. Well… anyways, it was Yahiko and we that started our organization in the first place, so we're technically the founders… Madara has simply taken a small thing and made it bigger than we could have realized… my partner, just as you blonde girl are the Angel to your God, so to am I the Angel to my God you see standing before you… but it is his right alone to introduce himself, and my acting role in this organization is to keep the others in line…"

The last one and the one to have discovered Naruto and his gang stepped up, and everyone held a breath because now, only now they could feel the presence, it was reminiscent of Naruto's… only greater, older, and more refined, and if anything it merely hinted to his own strength, which in itself made the others wonder how Naruto himself might turn out. At first glance, beyond the orange-hair and the strange piercing he adorned, nothing else could be said about this man, whom had taken a more calm and collected approach instead of the suave and charismatic man they had met earlier, and then, before he started his introduction, Naruto noticed something… odd…

"You DYED your HAIR!"

…if it wouldn't have seemed a completely greater embarrassment than being in hearing distance of that statement itself, the orange-haired man would have face-faulted, not just because of that rather unexpected mood-breaker… but the kid was actually right.

"…well you're the first besides Konan to actually notice, but she's a given… no, my natural hair color is red… and not spiky at all, but I keep it like this as a way of honoring and remembering Yahiko."

"Anyways, I am… Pein… but seeing as my illustrious image as the sole Rinnegan bearer has been shattered, it isn't that big a deal to get around using my actual name, so everyone here listen up. My real name is Nagato… well my family name… I'll just borrow whatever Naruto is using {Naruto: Hey!}, well we are related if we have the same Doujutsu, right? {Naruto: …fair enough.} …alright, as with Konan I would have been an Ame ninja if I had been a shinobi officially, my training in the ninja arts was surprised by Jiraiya himself, and I along with Konan and Yahiko became the leaders of a resistance to bring peace to Ame and end it's tyrannical rule under an uncaring leader in Hanzou… but Yahiko sacrificed his life to spare mine when Konan had been taken hostage… from then on, I devoted everything to achieving Yahiko's dream, and now Ame is ours. A little bit after that, me and Konan met Madara, whom seemed to have had his own little thing going, but he gained interest in me, explaining a bit more on how to use our kekkei genkai…"

"I imagine you'll undergo some training under him before you train directly under me Naruto, seeing as he seems to be a rather… exotic teacher… and from that arrangement our organization was truly born into it's present image, and we began collecting those we believed would suit our goal and purposes, those whom were already on the run and truly had no chance for a peaceful life. In our organization, we have partners to watch our backs, and if we exclude Orochimaru, we've never had any real betrayals between us… Anyways, my partner is Konan here, I expect Yugito will want to be your partner Naruto if and when the question comes up, and my acting role is the leader whenever Madara is not required to make sure things happen a certain way for whatever reason he knows… he's rather reclusive…"

At that point, with everyone, both from Naruto's side and Nagato's own gang, everyone waited to hear what Madara had to say, and it was then that people only then started to really pay attention to him, because at certain points it looked like Madara was different people at different times, despite not being able to see anything of his face or body, what with it being almost entirely covered, and this was considering that Kakuzu was among the audience.

Reading from his body language, Madara at times was just a wizened and demented old man who had long passed his expiration date, then at others he looked like a young male brimming with masculinity and youth that would make Maito Gai green with even… greener than his jumpsuit at that, and then there times he seemed like a mix of the two in age except more of a megalomaniacal chess master whom saw everyone else as nothing but pawns… and then there were times that he looked like a fucking six-year old kid on a radical super high.

They attributed the last part to 'Tobi.'

"…well… I'll give you the whole introduction… when you fulfill your role as a member of our organization!"

Nobody could help it, everyone face-faulted, even Ni and Kyuu, whom had been watching from the sidelines and having their own private discussion, couldn't prevent the strange pull that gravity created by the sheer exasperation Madara's attempt to avoid giving his own introduction…

And he was the one whom suggested it in the first place!

"Now, before we go on, you have earned the right to hear the name of our organization…."

For a moment, everyone paused…

"For we are… the _**Akatsuki**_."

…and for a second, time itself seemed to have suddenly stopped and died, for even the members of Akatsuki itself felt something… different, when they heard the organization's name uttered in that manner by Madara.

"Now… to inform you of your role…"

Naruto immediately replied to Madara, "…which is?"

Madara simply pointed at Yugito and indicated what he was referring to, "Your primary mission is collect the other Jinchuuriki, offer them protection and the dream of a world they of all are most deserving of, under the name and banner of Akatsuki, they will find paradise. While we could offer them pretty much anything, I doubt our words and promises would appear as nothing more than empty promises and broken words to them, but if we showed them another Jinchuuriki, one whom was already a part of this organization, this 'family' if you will, and they will be motivated to either see the validity of these promises, or at the very least, to enjoy the company of those whom have known their pain."

"The Jinchuuriki need to fight under us or even do anything for us, we simply wish they be out of the way, and the peaceful solution is always the best way to go about doing it. They get to, as Deidara once said it, 'lay low, chill, and hang with their 'homies… my God Deidara, just what kind of people are you fraternizing with?"

Before Deidara could say a single letter, Madara interrupted that question with a request, "…on second though, don't answer that, I really don't want to know."

The Akatsuki were a strange bunch, weren't they?

"The Jinchuuriki are your primary objective, and if they chose to join the Akatsuki, I am willing to make a… separate branch under your direct authority, and they would only answer to you. On top of that, I wish for you to attempt to gain allies throughout the land, both mercenaries, rouge ninja, as well as loyal ninja. Another task that is not a necessity, but it would aid our efforts extensively, is by creating your own spy network; while Sasori is our primary caretaker of that for the main branch of Akatsuki, as your own separate branch, you should have your own to be better able to predict the actions of the villages, and if need be, we could pass along information between the two information networks, so that other spy networks would get confused in what they see as a proverbial game of 'hot potato' with information involved."

"Two individuals of particular interest to me are your 'otou-san', Orochimaru, and the man in charge of the illegal operation known as Ne, or Root, or the Foundation, or whatever that old crone calls it nowadays, Itachi has told me you know him on a personal level, and we may be able to use him… so long as he is under the belief that our plans will allow for Konoha to remain standing as the sole village to survive the aftermath of Akatsuki's actions. Orochimaru was, and still is at best a goldmine of potential benefit for Akatsuki, and at worst… a liability."

Naruto and Anko's breath stopped, as they realized what that implied…

"Your otou-san knows things about Akatsuki, things we can't consciously allow his to keep so long as he attempts to 'ride around solo'… damn, Deidara, what exactly are these crazy phrases of yours?", and for a second the tension disappeared in the atmosphere and many needed to suppress a chortle or two as Deidara pulled at his hair while he screamed in protest, before Madara continued.

"A-hem! As I was saying, despite his service in the past we can't really let him go, not without putting ourselves and the secret knowledge of the existence of this organization in mortal peril. Normally, the punishment for defection is capture, interrogation and then execution, but for you, little Naruto… I will be willing to bend over backwards a little, and grant Orochimaru a pardon, and absolve him of his crimes against Akatsuki… if he comes back to join us."

And most importantly above all, do everything in your power to keep this organization a secret, and until we have established a trustworthy means of maintaining contact, we will have sparingly few meetings, so don't bother trying to contact us, we'll contact you and from there we'll work something out.

Do you have any questions?"

After awaiting for Madara to finish his basic outline for the job of his 'branch' of Akatsuki, only Naruto had two things to ask.

"Two questions, first, can I use the name that I had already planned to call my 'branch'? It is also useful in that it doesn't connect at all with the name of Akatsuki, so it's also covert."

""Well it's your group, I would have figured you'd name it."

"Thank you, "I'd like us to be know as… _**Eisen Dragoon**_…"

A chill went down the spines of all those present, in a similar manner as those whom first heard the name of the group, Akatsuki. Except this time, everyone except Naruto seemed afflicted, even Madara himself, ironic considering the strange and unexpected reversal of fortune.

Naruto then decided to get things rolling and asked, "Are we to ship out immediately?"

The only response was a chuckle and what Naruto felt was a look of hidden amusement in Madara's expression and body language, and Naruto himself almost seemed to regret asking when Madara answered for him, "Of course not, you first need to be conditioned and received some real training, and as a collective of a great majority of the village's best, we will make it so that you can do your job and do it right."

"Welcome, Eisen Dragoon, to Akatsuki Boot Camp…"

"Enjoy your stay in a Hell beyond Hell!"

~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~X~~~~~

Well I HOPE you enjoyed this little piece of work, I'm seriously ruining my biological clock by staying up without a wink of sleep…

Even crazies need to sleep.

Yawn, I'll make a more wacko edition of this chapter when I re-upload it!

Well, this is it for now!

See you soon!

**AvatarofDeath13, over and out!**


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